Apply everything from Days 7–8. Work through the full building frame with gravity + wind + seismic combinations. Extract design forces for a critical beam and column.
PracticeFull Load CombosDesign ForcesExam Prep
01 — Why
Practice is where the model mistakes surface
Day 9 has no new theory. Its purpose is to give you time with the model before Exam 2. Every modelling mistake you find and fix today is one less failure in the exam.
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Common mistakes caught at this stage: wrong load direction, missing load combos, incorrect mass source, pinned instead of fixed base, shell element orientation errors.
02 — Concept
Reading design forces from ETABS
For each member, ETABS outputs: P (axial), V2, V3 (shear in two directions), T (torsion), M2, M3 (moment in two directions). For design, you need the envelope values across all load combinations.
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How to display force envelopes. What Pu, Mu, Vu mean for RC design (factored forces). How to export a table of critical member forces.
03 — Walkthrough
Day 9 practice checklist
Work through this checklist on your Day 7–8 model before Day 10.
Run all load combinationsGravity only, wind governs, seismic governs, uplift check. Confirm no analysis errors.
Check story drift under windDisplay deformed shape under wind combo. Record drift at each floor. Is it within H/400?
Identify critical beam (max Mu)Display M3 diagram. Which beam has the largest factored moment? Note the span and floor level.
Identify critical column (max Pu and Mu)Ground-floor corner columns typically govern under seismic due to combined axial + moment. Check P-M interaction.
Extract base reactionsDisplay → Show Table → Base Reactions. Record sum of FZ (should equal total building weight × gravity combo factor).
Verify base shear matches BNBC calculationSum of horizontal base reactions under seismic combo should match V computed by hand. Tolerance: ±5%.
04 — Check Yourself
Exam 2 self-assessment
Day 10 is more practice. Day 11 is Exam 2. Test yourself now.