Section Analysis

Section Geometry Definition

Follow the steps below to define a section and view its properties in OpenBrIM.

1. Log in to your account, click Project in the top-right, then click NEW in the top-left corner.

   

   
2. Under Empty Projects, click New Project within FEA Workflow.

   

   

This example uses the FEA workflow, but the same operations apply in any other workflow.

1. Provide a name for your project and open the FEA Workflow project.

   
2. Click Data at the bottom of the page.

   

The next steps create an example rectangular reinforced concrete section.

Define Materials and Reinforcement

1. Click the FEA tab at the top-left of the spreadsheet, then click Materials under Properties in the tree view.

   
2. In the spreadsheet, click the three-dot menu in any cell and choose Import Material. Import the concrete material from the appropriate database/category, then repeat for the reinforcing steel material.

   

   

   
3. Open Reinforcement under Properties. Click the three-dot menu in any cell and choose Import Rebar Profile. Pick the database and category for the desired profile.

   

   

Build the Section

1. Open Sections in the tree view and provide a name for the section you want to define.

   
2. Click the three-dot menu in any cell of the section row and open the Section Editor.

   
3. In the Section Editor, click Shapes in the top-left to open the shapes menu, then click the Template section.

   
4. Pick Rectangle from Basic Shapes and click Add to insert it into the section.

   

   

Quick tip: You can also import an existing section by clicking the three-dot menu in the section's spreadsheet cell and choosing Import Section.

Add Rebar or Tendons

Once the shape is in place, you can add rebar or tendons inside the Section Editor:

Option 1 — by entering parameters.

Option 2 — by drawing rebar points.

The completed section appears as shown — three sequential rebar layouts have been added.

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Sectional Analysis

With the section, materials, geometry, and rebar defined, follow the steps below to run sectional analyses.

1. Click the three-dot menu next to the section name. From here you can run Flexure Capacity, Moment Curvature, and Interaction Diagram.

   
2. Click Flexure Capacity to compute the flexural capacity of the section.

   
3. Click Moment Curvature to compute the moment-curvature curve.

   
4. Click Interaction Diagram to compute the axial-moment interaction diagram.

   

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Section Properties Computation

After running the analyses, follow the steps below to view the computed section properties.

1. Click the back arrow in the top-left of the Section Editor to return to the spreadsheet.

   
2. The section properties (area, moment of inertia, etc.) appear in the spreadsheet. Click More Properties or Extent for additional values.