13/09/2017 Center of rigidity for semi-rigid diaphragm - ETABS - Computers and Structures, Inc.

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Center of rigidity for semi-rigid diaphragm
Added by Faisal Habib, last edited by Mohamad Ali-Ahmad on May 16, 2017

What is the center of rigidity for a semi-rigid diaphragm?

Answer: Center of rigidity is only applicable to rigid diaphragms because in-plane slab deformation is variable across laterally
loaded semi-rigid diaphragms. During computation, an arbitrary coordinate is selected and loaded, then center of rigidity is
derived, as a function of stiffness, according to the displacement at this specific point. If a diaphragm constraint is not applied,
displacement at any point will also depend upon variable local membrane deformation. As a result, no unique solution is available
for center of rigidity since formulation assumes that all joints translate together in planar motion.

Regardless of diaphragm type, the eccentricity inherent to changes in mass centroid and stiffness centroid is automatically
included in analysis.

The definition and formulation for center of rigidity is given in the Center of rigidity article.

https://wiki.csiamerica.com/display/etabs/Center+of+rigidity+for+semi-rigid+diaphragm 1/1