Combine nonlinear combinations with seismicity

  • Module code ESA1316
  • Software
    • SCIA Engineer
  • FAQ topic

Seismic calculation is always a linear calculation. However, you can combine the seismic load cases with a nonlinear combination.

To do this, you will need to make a nonlinear combination (excluding the seismic load cases) and use these results in your linear seismic combination. In other words, the nonlinear behaviour of the structure for the static forces will be combined with the linear seismic calculation.

Step 1: Create all needed load cases including the seismic load cases.

Step 2: Add all needed nonlinearities to the structure. Make sure the necessary nonlinear functionalities are activated. Note that the functionality of Sequential analysis is only available for SCIA Engineer 32bit and post-processing environment 'v16 and older'!

Step 3: Create a nonlinear combination containing all required load cases except the seismic load cases. As mentioned above, the seismic calculation is only linear.

Step 4: Create a linear combination containing only the seismic load cases. In your linear combination, choose the nonlinear combination that was created in step 3.

Step 5: Run the batch analysis.

Remark: Using this procedure the combination should be defined manually meaning SCIA will not calculate the coefficient automatically for each load case.