Applying absences

  • Module code ESA1112
  • Software
    • SCIA Engineer
  • FAQ topic

In practice, it may happen that selected parts of a structure are not always acting. It may happen, for example, that fresh concrete members are not capable of transferring any load. Or it is possible that some bracing steel diagonals are missing at an early stage of construction.

SCIA Engineer helps you modelling this with absences. An absence means that a certain part of a model is missing (or absenting) in a certain load case.

You can follow the steps below if you want to add absences to your project and link them to a load case:

  • Select the functionality ‘Model modifiers’ in the Project data dialog (Main menu > File > Project settings):
  • The functionality ‘Model modifiers’ appears in the Input panel. Create a modification group. 
  • Now you can define absences on (nodal) supports, 1D members and/or 2D members. You can easily switch between the modification groups with the pulldown menu:
  • Don’t forget to link the modification group to a load case (Main tree > Libraries > Load cases, combinations > Load cases):

Remarks:

  • Before SCIA Engineer 19.0 absences could only be used for linear calculations. Since SCIA Engineer 19.0 it is possible to use absences as well for nonlinear calculations, if the modification group is set for all load cases of the nonlinear combination.
  • Before SCIA Engineer 19.0 the functionality ‘Model modifiers’ didn’t exist. Instead you had to activate the ‘Absences’ service with the ‘Absence’ setting in the Project data window. Before SCIA Engineer 19.0 absences could only be used in combination with the old post processing environment (v16 and older).