Abstract
Commercial software for structural analysis and design has significantly evolved in recent years. Nowadays, they are more user- friendly, in addition to providing engineers with more modeling options to solve complex problems and geometries. Tapered elements in gen- eralandhaunchedbeamsinparticularweretraditionallydifficulttomodelinthepast;therefore,mostcommercialsoftwaredidnotincludethem in their element libraries. Recently, leading commercial software worldwide for structural analysis such as ETABS or STAAD-Pro allow engineerstomodelhaunchedbeamsintheelasticrangeofresponse.However,thetechnicalinformationprovidedwithinthesoftware'smanual does not always describe the details of the numerical modeling; i.e., whether it is based on rigorous traditional methods or is just an approximationbaseduponthecalculusofvariations.InthispapertheapproximationsobtainedwithcommercialsoftwareforasetofRCframes with symmetric haunched beams under lateral loading in the elastic range of response are reported when compared with those obtained with a traditional beam theory in which shear deformations are included. It is shown that the modeling used in commercial software is in general reasonable;however,itleadstoanunderestimationofthelateraldisplacements.Dependingonthesoftwareandthemodelingoptionused,lateral displacementsvaryfrom62toalmost100%ofthosecalculatedusingtraditionalbeamtheory.DOI:10.1061/(ASCE)SC.1943-5576.0000143. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers. CE Database subject headings: Beams; Lateral displacement; Computer software; Elasticity. Author keywords: Tapered elements; Haunched beams; Nonprismatic beams.
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