Custom [SIG]

Footing

Substructure: Choose the substructure element associated with the footing, such as columns. The center of the selected element will be utilized for positioning the footing.

Footing Points: Users can define custom polygons by providing the longitudinal and transverse locations of the points comprising them.

• Longitudinal Distance From Reference Point: The longitudinal distance from the center of the substructure above is determined by a positive or negative value. A negative value shifts the point down-station along the PGL, while a positive value moves it up-station.

• Transverse Offset From Reference Point: The transverse distance from the center of the substructure above is determined by a positive or negative value.

Thickness: The thickness of the footing is also employed to define the shell element thicknesses in the analytical model.

Longitudinal Offset: Employed to determine the position of the footing. Longitudinal offset along the Projected Grade Line (PGL), where 0 refers to the center point of the substructure above.

Transverse Offset: Employed to determine the position of the footing. Transverse offset along the Projected Grade Line (PGL), where 0 refers to the center point of the substructure above.

Material: Material of the footing

Rotation: This parameter is utilized to rotate the rectangular footing, with 0 indicating that it is perpendicular to the PGL.

FEM

Generate FEM[Yes/No]: Setting the "Generate FEM" parameter to "No" can disable the analytical representation of the pile.

Rigid Section: A rigid section is employed to establish rigid line elements that connect the footing to pier columns or piles. Column connections are established using five rigid elements to distribute pier forces to the footing from five distinct locations (center, top right, top left, bottom left, and bottom right) rather than a single point, which would result in unrealistic high stress concentrations. When the user assigns different sections, the locations of the rigid lines and the footing mesh adapt accordingly.

Mesh Size: The maximum length of the shell elements representing the footing.

Min # of Strips in Long. Dir.: The longitudinal direction corresponds to the direction that is along the length of the footing. The number of strips is employed to extract major axis bending moment results from shell elements using the fecomposite approach for design purposes. Essentially, it consolidates the forces of shell elements at their centers of gravity. If 1 is selected, the design will utilize the combined forces of all shell elements.

Min # of Strips in Trans. Dir.: The longitudinal direction corresponds to the direction that is along the width of the footing. The number of strips is employed to extract major axis bending moment results from shell elements using the fecomposite approach for design purposes. Essentially, it consolidates the forces of shell elements at their centers of gravity. If 1 is selected, the design will utilize the combined forces of all shell elements.