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The Floor Analysis Post-Processor

Click the “Analysis Post-processing” button to access the Floor Analysis Post-processor.

The post-processor is equipped with several options to provide a visual display of the analysis results:
displacements, moments and various other graphical outputs can be investigated.

View Controls
View controls are located on the “General” tab as follows:

Orthogonal Plan Mode

In order to obtain a true plan view of the 3-D model, use “Orthogonal Plan Mode”
button located in the toolbar. When orthogonal plan mode is active, no rotation can be
performed with the mouse. Only pan and zoom is allowed in this mode of display.
Press the same button to deactivate the plan mode.

View Angle
Use the mouse right and left buttons and scroll wheel to perform zoom in/out,
rotation and pan operations. Alternatively, “3-D View” button on the toolbar or in the
“View” menu can be used to control the movement of the 3-D display. This form
contains nine viewing direction buttons. You can view the model from any pre-set
direction.

Orthogonal/Perspective View

Perspective (Frustum) view of the 3-D model can be obtained by

“Orthogonal/Perspective View” button in the toolbar.

Print

The “Print Preview Menu” is loaded when the “Print” button on the toolbar or the
“Print” option on the “File” pulldown is selected. Print is used for creating the hardcopy
of the graphical model displayed in the drawing area.

Save Image As Bitmap File

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3-D image on drawing area will be saved as bitmap, if “Save Image As Bitmap File”
button in the toolbar is clicked.

View Settings
Elements in the FE Model are categorised under different titles. Display settings related with these
elements can be adjusted using “View Settings” property grid located on the left of the “Floor Analysis
Post-Processor screen.

Titles located in the “View Settings” Property Grid are:

• General Settings

• Geometry (Structural Members)

• Nodes

• Frame Element

• Plate

• Displacements

• Contours

• User Defined Contours

• Threshold Contours

• Slab Strip

• Legend

Titles in the grid are expandable. Each title includes general property fields that control colour, text
style, label display, visibility etc

View Settings - General Settings

General properties of the display are controlled from the View Settings, “General Settings” title. In
order to change the background colour of the display arena, click once on the cell containing the
“Background Colour” text. The cell on the right hand side will display a small box previewing the color
and a “…” button. Press this button to load the operating system color picker.

In order to perform an anti-aliasing, “Line Anti-Aliasing” text shall be checked. This will smooth the line
edges.. By cheking the “Face Anti-Aliasing”, polygons will be drawn smoothly on the screen.

Texts can be displayed in three different styles:

• “Bitmap” style uses the true type system fonts and size of the text does not change when screen
is zoomed in or out.

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• “Perspective” style again uses true type system fonts, but text size changes with zoom
operations. In addition, text objects far from view plane are displayed smaller.

• In the “Vector” style, text objects are displayed using vector fonts like other drawing objects (ISO,
ROMAN, TXT). Text size changes with respect to distance from viewplane and magnification.

Text properties related with all elements in the drawing area can be controlled from the
“Label” subtitle of each element category title. Label styles of each separate category can be
specified independently from each other. General properties related with three distinct text
styles (bitmap, perspective or vector) can globally be adjusted from “Bitmap Font Properties”,
“Perspective Font Properties” and “Vector Font Properties” fields located under “General
Settings” title. The “Raster Bitmap Properties” subtitle includes controls concerning dimension
and line settings being sent to printer.

View Settings - Structural Members

“Slab”, “Wall”, “Column” and “Beam” members defined in Graphic Editor are all categorised under the
“Structural Members” title. Display, colour and label settings can easily be done using the fields that
expand when “>” sign near the title is pressed.

View Settings - Nodes

Nodes are the connections of analytical members (shells, frames). Analysis results such as moments,
displacements are calculated at each node. Display properties related with nodes can be specified by
using the subtitles located under “Node” title in the property grid. Nodes can be displayed in three
styles. “Display Mode” cell controls this property. “Sphere” style displays the nodes as small spheres
whose diameters are controlled by “Sphere Size” field. Colours of these spheres can be specified from
“Element Color” cell. “Cross” style displays the nodes as 3-D asterisks. Nodes are viewed as one pixel
sized points when “Point” option is selected.

If you have defined partial slab loads, these can be displayed by “Nodal Load” data field. Should there
are supports assigned to the nodes, these can be displayed by “Support” title.

View Settings - Frame Element

Other than the structural members defined in the Graphic Editor, there are analytical members
automatically created by analysis engine. Beam, column, wall, rib and waffle slab members are
modelled by frame elements while normal slabs are modelled by triangle plate elements. “Frame
Element” title includes the controls related with the display of frame elements in the floor system.
“Shrink” option provides an isolated display of frame elements by dispatching them from their end
nodes. Direction of the frame element can be seen using fields in “Element Direction” title. Local axes
of frame elements can also be seen by “Local Axes” field. 

Rigid beams in wall members or automatic rigid links are grouped under “Rigid Elements” title.
Appearance settings can be made using the fields under this title.

If there are user-defined loads that have been defined on beams in Graphic Editor, these also can be

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seen and adjusted using the fields located under “Frame Loads” title.

View Settings - Plates

Discrete Kirchhoff Triangles used in the finite element slab analysis are called plates in short.
Appearance settings of plate elements can be made using the fields located under “Plate” title. Display
of the plate elements are controlled by two groups: “Faces” and “Edges”. Faces represent the solid infill
of the plate elements. Transparency settings can be done by the “Transparency” field located under
“Faces” subtitle of “Plate” title. Colour, Line width, Label properties are controlled in the same manner
as the other elements described previously.

Model Display Controls

Model Display controls are located on the “Elements” tab as follows:

Structural Members
The “Display Structural Members” button in the toolbar hides/displays the beam,
column, slab and wall and pile members in the model. When clicked on, the
“Structural Members” title will automatically expand in the View Settings proprerty
grid with all its subtitles, enabling a quick access for editing.

The drop down options under this button can be used to:

• hide/display the structural member labels

• hide/display slab shading

• hide/display slab loads

Nodes

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Nodes exist at the connections of analytical members (shells, frames). Analysis results
such as moments, displacements are calculated at each node.

 The “Display Nodes” button in the toolbar hides/displays the nodes in the model.
When clicked on, the “Node” title will automatically expand in the View Settings
proprerty grid with all its subtitles, enabling a quick access for editing.

The drop down options under this button can be used to:

• hide/display the node labels

• hide/display nodal loads

• hide/display supports

• hide/display springs

Frame Element
The “Display Frame Elements” button in the toolbar hides/displays the frame
elements in the model. When clicked on, the “Frame Elements” title will automatically
expand in the View Settings proprerty grid with all its subtitles, enabling a quick
access for editing.

The drop down options under this button can be used to:

• hide/display the frame element labels

• hide/display local axes

• hide/display the element direction

• hide/display user-defined loads defined on beams in Graphic Editor (frame

loads)

Note that other than the structural members defined in the Graphic Editor, there are
other analytical members automatically created by the analysis engine. Beam,
column, wall, rib and waffle slab members are modelled by frame elements while
normal slabs are modelled by triangular plate elements.

Plates

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The “Display Plate Elements” button in the toolbar hides/displays the plate elements
in the model. When clicked on, the “Plates” title will automatically expand in the View
Settings property grid with all its subtitles, enabling a quick access for editing.

The drop down options under this button can be used to:

• hide/display the plate labels

• hide/display the plate thicknesses

• hide/display the plate pressure

• shrink the plates for clearer viewing

• hide/display plate shading

Loading and Effects

These panels (on the right side of graphical editor) are used to specify the result to be displayed.

Loading
The active load case or combination can be set using the “Loading” panel. Results will be displayed for
the selected load case or combination.

The contour plots are generated for the selected loading if the "Display Contours" button is
depressed. Also, the selected effect (displacement or moment) for the selected loading will be
displayed in the status bar for the pointed node.

Effects (Displacements and Moments)

The effect that is viewed both on the contour plot and on the status bar can be selected using the
"Effects" panel. The following effects can be selected:

·   Displacement: Displacement of the nodes along the z direction.

·   Mx: Average nodal moment along global x direction

·   My: Average nodal moment along global y direction

·   Mxy: Average nodal torsional moment.

·   M1: Average nodal moment along Direction 1*

·   M2: Average nodal moment along Direction 2*

·   M12: Average nodal torsional moment

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·   As(d)1-bot: Required steel area in the bottom face of the slab along Direction 1 (Wood-Armer Effects
included)

·   As(d)1-top: Required steel area in the top face of the slab along Direction 1 (Wood-Armer Effects
included)

·   As(d)2-bot: Required steel area in the bottom face of the slab along Direction 2 (Wood-Armer Effects
included)

·   As(d)2-top: Required steel area in the top face of the slab along Direction 2 (Wood-Armer Effects
included)

·   Soil Pressure: The soil pressure applied on the node.

·   Soil Pr. Threshold: The threshold plot of the soil pressure against the allowable soil stress value.

As the mouse pointer is hovered above the nodes, the closest one will be snapped. Necessary
information about that node will be displayed in the status bar (below the graphical editor).

*In the Graphic Editor, you can define angle properties for slabs using the “Angle” field in “Slab
Properties” menu. M1, M2 and M12 are then calculated with respect to these angles in Finite Element
Post Processor. Especially for the buildings that may have angled plans, reinforcements are needed to
be installed along a specified angle rather than global X and Y. In order to see the moment and steel
contours for different angles, you must have specified angle values for related slabs in the Graphic
Editor.

Displacements and Contours

Displacements, automatic and user-defined contours are selected from the “Results” tab. These are
then displayed for the selected loading.

Display Displacements
Deformations of the floor system can be displayed/hidden on 3-D model by clicking
the “Displacements” button in the toolbar; when active, the “Displacements” title in
the “View Settings” property grid will be expanded enabling the adjustment of settings
related to the displacement display.

“+/- Scale” buttons control the exaggeration of the displacement display. Displacements can be
animated by clicking the “Animation” button.

Contour Plots
ProtaStructure provides useful tools for creating automatic and user-defined contours. 

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When the “Standard Contours” button on the toolbar is depressed, the displacement,
required steel area and/or moment contours for the plate elements will be plotted
based on the “Effects” and “Loading” options selected.

The “Contours” title in the “View Settings” grid will also be expanded automatically,
enabling the adjustment of settings related to the contour display if required.

The “Number of Contours” field in the “View Settings” grid (Left panel of the graphical editor) indicates
the number of intervals that the calculated maximum and minimum values of the selected effect will
be displayed in contour view.  Larger values yield a smoother contour display.

General Properties of Automatic, User-Defined and Threshold Contours

Contours can be drawn using line representations, or as color-filled regions. They can be displayed on
the undisplaced, or the displaced floor.

Display settings of “Shaded Contours” and “Line Contours” can be made under their own subtitles in
the “View Settings” grid.

• Shaded contours can be displayed transparently by using the “Transparency” option.  A value of
100 provides a virtually solid display, lowering the transparancy value increases the degree of
transparency.

• Line contours represent the boundary values of the contours. Width of the contours are
controlled by the “Line width” field, whereas colour of the lines can be controlled by “Line Type

• Values of the contour lines are displayed by contour labels. The “Contour Labels” subtitle
contains fields to control “Visibility” and “Label Spacing”.

User- Defined Contours

In addition to automatic contours, user-defined (custom) contours can be created.

When the “User-Defined Contours” button on the toolbar is depressed, the

displacement, required steel area and/or moment contours for the plate elements will
be plotted based on the “Effect” and “Loading” options selected.

To configure user-defined contours click the “Edit Contours” button. The number of contours, contour
intervals and labels can be controlled from the dialog that is displayed.

Maximum and minimum values of the effect specified in the “Effects” list are calculated automatically.
The range is divided into the number of intervals specified in “Number of Contours” field. These
intervals are by default labelled as Contour1, Contour2, … etc. The contour intervals and their labels
can subsequently be modified as required.

The color of each contour interval can be modified within the “User Defined Contours” title in the
“View Settings” grid.

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Threshold Contours
In order to check whether the calculated values of an “Effect” exceeds a threshold value, one can use
“Threshold Contours”.

When the “Threshold Contours” button on the toolbar is depressed, the displacement
required steel area and/or moment contours for the plate elements will be plotted for
upper and lower threshold values based on the “Effect” and “Loading” options
selected.

To configure threshold contours click the “Edit Contours” button.

Maximum and minimum values of the effect specified in the “Effects” list are calculated automatically
and written into “Contour_Min” and “Contour_Max” fields. Any value between maximum and minimum
values can be written into “Lower Threshold” and “Upper Threshold” fields. The interval between lower
and upper threshold will be painted with green whereas areas below lower threshold and above
upper threshold are painted with red. In other words, threshold contours can be said to be a
specialized subset of user-defined contours. The only difference is that it is limited only to two contour
values.

Concrete Cover
The effective depth of the concrete is required in order to display required steel
area contours. To set this value, click the “Concrete Cover” button.

Required Steel Areas for direction 1 and 2 will be calculated using the available moment from the
finite element analysis. Hence, clear concrete cover, layer of the bar in the specified direction and the
diameter of the bar is important in effective depth calculation. Enter the clear concrete cover distance
(to bar face) in the “Concrete Cover (To Bar Face)” field. Select the layer of direction-1 bars (outer or
inner) from the “Dir-1” layer (it depends on the effective load transfer direction of slab, usually bars on
short edge are installed at outer layer). Bar diameters can be specified in the “Bar Diameter” field for
“Dir-1” and “Dir-2”. The information provided here will only be calculated for the display of required
steel area.

Edit Contours
When User-Defined or Threshold Contours are active, contour values and labels of
the legends can be adjusted using the “Edit Contours” button.

If the selected effect is one of moment effects or displacement, contours specified by the fields under
“User-Defined Contours” title, will identically be loaded into the “Contour Settings” menu as a list.
Values between the maximum and minimum values can be modified and new labels can be assigned
to the contours. Besides these, the user-defined labels can be displayed in the legend.

In order to change the number of contours to be shown on the display, modify the “Number of
Contours” field and press “Update” button. If you click on “Yes” on the upcoming dialog, minimum and
maximum values will be divided into the specified number. In order to change one of the contour

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values and its label, select it in the list on the left. “Contour Label” and “Contour Value” fields will be
activated on the right.  Modify these fields and press “Update” button at the lower corner. Click “OK”
reflect the changes onto the display area.

If the selected “Effect” is one of the Required Steel Areas, again the contour properties such as contour
number and values will be loaded into the “Contour Settings” menu. This time, “Steel 1”, “Steel 2” and
“Steel 3” fields will be available in addition to “Contour Value” and “Contour Label” fields. In order to
set the value of one of the contours to a specific reinforcing steel area, select the contour from the list
on the left. Check the “Steel Area-1” box and specify the “Diameter” and “Spacing”. Corresponding steel
area will automatically be calculated and displayed in the same window. If there are more than one
layer of steel bars in the section, then also check the “Steel Area-2” and “Steel Area-3” boxes. Steel
areas will be superposed. Click “Update” button to change the value of the contour. Contour label will
automatically be changed as bar diameter and spacing.

If “Contour Value” option is selected in the “Legend” part of the “Custom Contour Settings” menu,
legend labels will be the numerical values of the contour boundaries. If “Contour Label” option is
selected, legend labels will be identical with the contour labels.

Col/Wall Node Interpretation

The way contours are plotted takes account of the “Col/Wall Node Interpretation” setting. This can be
set to include or ignore the col/wall nodes. An option also exists to interpolate between the two.

Export Contours (Under development)

If the selected effect is one of the design steel areas [As(d)1-bot, As(d)2-bot, 
As(d)1-top, As(d)2-top], the contours on the drawing area can be exported
to the Graphic Editor.

Before exporting the custom contours for design steel areas, create your own custom contours by
using “Edit Contours” and “Concrete Cover” buttons. Click on the “Export Contours” button in the
toolbar. When you return to Graphic Editor by closing “FE Floor Analysis Module”, click on “Regen”
button. Contour lines will be displayed on plan view. Layer of these contours can be freezed/thawed
using “Layer Control” menu.

Legend
As long as the contour view is active, a legend will be displayed at the lower left corner of the screen.
Using the “Legend” title in the “View Settings”, display properties of the legend can be adjusted.
“Number of Indexes” can be equal to the number of contours at most. Position and size of the legend
can easily be controlled by “Position” and “Size” fields in the “View Settings”.

Design Strips

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In order to plot the analysis results and obtain the maximum moments to be used in
design, the deformation and moment profiles along a given strip can be generated.

This can be achieved easily by dragging two points defining the design strip after
pressing the “Design Strip” button on the toolbar and selecting the "Strip Type".

Design Strips can be inserted only in plan view.

Strip values are obtained by (discretising) the line defined by the strip points and the deformation
profile is plotted in the “Slab Strip” form. The minimum number of strip points calculated along the
profile is provided in the “No. of Points” field. The strip points of the profile are also displayed on the
model plot.

The displacement and moment profiles are created along the design strip line dragged in the drawing
area for the load case or load combination selected in the "Loadings" dropdown list. Additionally, the
maximum and minimum values obtained along the strip line are displayed in this panel.

The graphical profile can be switched to display displacements or moments using the relevant
options. The displayed moment diagram is obtained using the averaged nodal moment values about
the axis perpendicular to the strip direction in plan view.

The design moments are displayed below the diagram for supports and spans of each slab panel. The
design moments are maximum moments creating tension in top and bottom edges, determined
based on the "Strip Type" selected during the insertion of the design strip.

Strip Types
Four types of Slab Design Strips can be defined:

·   Fixed Width Band: The width of the design strip is determined using the "Half Band" field defining
the half width along both sides of the strip centreline.

·   Span Band: Considering the smallest of the edges of the slab that the design strip passes through,
two parallel lines defining the strip region are drawn. The active strip width is set as the middle half
slab width. This strip is used for flat slab systems.

·   Support Band: This type of design strips must be located along the support regions of the flat slab
systems.

·   Span Strip: This strip type has behaviour similar to the Span Band. This strip is used for standard
beam/slab systems.

You can refer to Slab Strip Types in the Analysis and Design of Slabs section for more information on
the behaviour of the design strips.

Printing Design Strips

When an individual strip is displayed a graphical hardcopy can be printed by clicking the “Print”
button.

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Multiple strips can be printed using the “Print Slab Strip” option in the “File” pulldown menu. The
diagram type, loading and the design strips to be printed can be determined using the options in this
dialog.

Transferring Slab Design Strip Results

After closing the “Floor Analysis Post-Processor” module, the “Transfer Options” form will be loaded.
By using the options in the “Column and Wall Results Transfer Options” dropdown list located in this
form, you can control the transfer of the results obtained from column or wall end nodes.

Slab Strip Transfer Options

If “Transfer Slab Strip FE Analysis Results” option is checked, the analysis results of all strips will be
transferred back from the FE module for the design of the strips.

If “Consider Plate Torsion Effects (Wood and Armer) in Slab Design Moments” option is checked, the
design moments will be so adjusted to include the torsion effects based on Wood and Armer
methodology.

The “Column and Wall Results Transfer Option” can be selected to be either “Ignore in Strip Results” or
“Interpolate With First Neighbour Nodes” in order to reduce the relatively higher results in column
nodes to consider the section dimensions of the columns.

Note that, in a relatively coarse mesh, it may cause under-design of the strips if “Ignore in Strip
Results” option is preferred.

Since columns are modelled using a single node and walls are modelled using a series of nodes,
undesired stress concentrations may occur on these locations, resulting unexpectedly high support
moments. Only a single negative and positive maximum moment are returned from “Fixed Band” slab
strips. The area covered by these strips is designed using a single top and bottom steel to resist these
moments. When the column nodes are considered in the design, all the area covered by a Fixed Band
Strip will be based on a very high moment.

Following options may be used alternatively for taking into account the stress concentration effects in
these strips:

Include in Strip Results

If the Finite Element Analysis Post-processing Form is used with this option selected, then the results
obtained in the column nodes and wall end nodes will be returned for being taken into account during
design.

This option is recommended for all slab strip types other than the "Fixed Band" strips.

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Include in Strip Results Option

Ignore in Strip Results

If the Finite Element Analysis Post-processing Menu is used with this option selected, then the results
obtained in the column nodes and wall end nodes will be ignored and will not be taken into account
during design.

This option can be used for "Fixed Band" strips. In this case, additional support steel may be necessary
and can be inserted manually after design based on the maximum column node moments.

Ignore in Strip Results Option

Use Average with First adjacent Node

If the Finite Element Analysis Post-processing Form is used with this option selected, then the results
obtained in the column nodes and wall end nodes will be ignored and will not be taken into account
during design. Alternatively, values obtained by averaging the column node (or wall end node) with
the first neighbour nodes around the column (or wall end). This way, the moment reduction effect of
the finite column and wall dimensions will be taken into account in a better approach.

This option is recommended for the "Fixed Band" strips. In this case, additional support steel may be
necessary and can be inserted manually after design based on the maximum column node moments.

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Use Average with First adjacent Node Option

Having determined the option to control the transfer of the results obtained from column and wall
end nodes in the “Column and Wall Results Transfer Options” list in “Transfer Options” form, press
“OK” button.

Transferring the results back to the Graphic Editor environment enables the design of slabs and
selection of slab steel bars based on the moments calculated using the Finite Element Analysis. Beam
Analysis Results are also transferred during this process to be used for merging with the building
analysis results.

It should be noted that, when a modification on the model or loading is made, the analysis should be
re-run.

Related Articles:
Column/Wall Model Types, Stiffness factors, Cracking & Creep

Floor Mesh and Analysis - Generate Model

Post Analysis Processes and Reports

Model Export

Last checked: 31/10/2017 (2018) SW

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