What Are Stiffness Modifiers in Etabs

What are stiffness modifiers in Etabs?
What are stiffness modifiers in Etabs?

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Are they used to account for reduced sectional properties due to cracking?
Is there any mention of these in IS 456?
Will I be overestimating strength if I do not apply stiffness modifiers ?
What values are typically used for concrete members (Slabs, Beams, Columns) ?
Karanpal Singh, Structural Engineer

Written Mar 20, 2016
Yes, you are correct. The stiffness modifiers are used to take into account the cracking of
RCC sections.
IS 456:2000 does talk about stiffness of members in Clause 22.3. However, it does not
provide the modifier values to be used. You can refer Code Section 10.11 of ACI 318 for
stiffness modifier values suggest by ACI.
Stiffness modifiers can have significant effect on the behavior of the structure. In absence of
stiffness modifiers the structure would be stiffer and thus attract higher lateral forces due to
earthquake. So you might end up with heavily reinforced shear walls , moment frames etc.
At the same time you might also underestimate the drift. Stiffness modifiers will also affect
force distribution among different members of the structure.
Nishant Rathi, Structural Engineer

Written Dec 8
The concept of stiffness modifier is not related to Etabs.
Stiffness modifiers are used to simulate the behaviour of structure in cracked stage.
while there is nothing mentioned about stiffness modifiers in Indian standard, values
mentioned in ACI 318 can be used.
Georgios Bekas, 8 years of experience. Licensed Civil Engineer.
Updated Oct 3
In seismic retrofitting the stiffness of structural elements according to various codes is
reduced to reflect a reduction in the strength of the material, as a result of aging and
environmental conditions
Sujaykumar R SanglikarPhysically Human,Mentally Zombie...!

Works at Smartminds Engineering Pvt.Ltd.Bangalore.
Studied at Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Engineering and Technology
Lives in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
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Sujaykumar R Sanglikar, worked at Structural Engineering
Written Mar 15, 2016
If the structure is designed using LIMIT STATE METHOD (LRFD/LSM/LS) the section is
designed as cracked section. So the section after crack shall have less stiffness compared
to the gross section stiffness (Also the stress carrying capacity), the same is assigned for in
the model.
However, there is no clear indication of this in our IS codes,may be the FOS for dead load is
considered as 1.5 against 1.2 of the ACI.
I believe that for linear first order or flexure analysis of non-slender structures, the stiffness
reduction need not be used. Any consistent assumption of equivalent stiffness should
suffice according to 8.7 ACI-318-2011.
Stiffness modifier for beam, column, wall, slab

Stiffness modifier for beam, column, wall, slab
structech08 (Structural)
(OP)
7 Dec 10 21:26
Hello,
What is the importance of stiffeness modifier for the beam, column, slab , wall etc to ETABS
analysis and section design? What is the purpose of using the stiffness modifier?
Why is it that I get more reinforcement when no stiffness modification is applied to the columns,
beams, wall and slab? When I put the stiffeness modifier as per ACI 318 requires, I got lesser area
of steel reinforcement for the beams and columns.
Thank you for your response.
Structech08
LAmbiance Plazza
RE: Stiffness modifier for beam, column, wall, slab
slickdeals (Structural) 8 Dec 10 07:22
Stiffness modifiers are used to account for cracking in concrete. It is the nature of concrete to
crack and hence, it is important to modify its stiffness to accurately get deflections and P-Delta
moments.
In a building with shear walls and beams/columns (which I presume is your case), cracking the
columns/beams will reduce their stiffness and more moments/shears are transferred to the shear
walls based on relative stiffness.
Stiffness attracts force. As a result, if your column/beam is relatively less stiff than the shear wall,
it will have less moments and shears. This will result in lesser reinforcing.
Hope that makes sense. Post if you have other questions.

structech08 (Structural)
(OP)
10 Dec 10 06:54
Hi slickdeals,
I really appreciate your response, your explanation is technically clear.
Thank you so much.
structech08
zstone (Structural) 21 Dec 10 11:38
Dear friends
Regarding to fema 356

It is required to reduce also stifness properties of walls
For flexure 0.5 to 0.8 EI, and for shear 0.4EA,
My question is how to put this effect into walls by stifness modifiers,
Which parameters i need to reduce,
Because if i reduce f11, f22, or f12 i affect also axial rigidity ( which i dont like to affect axial
rigidity because by fema 356 it will bee 1.0EA)
If i reduce m11, m22, m12 i affect out of plane bending stifness of plate, which also is not in my.
Kind Regards
Or i maybe need to reduce stifness only at beams and columns.
Many Thanks
jenofstructures (Civil/Environmental) 22 Dec 10 02:20
Is it based from the stiffness values stated on ACI?
Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree. engineers creates wonderful
buildings, but only God can creates wonderful minds

Right
Both FEMA and ACI propose values for this purpose,
But how to include this values into walls,
For example
FEMA recomend to reduce Flexural rigidity of walls by 0.8EcIg
My question is: how can include this effect into ETABS through stifness modifiers,or any other way
maybe this values are available if you model walls as column elements ( onedimensional
elements)
Regards
slickdeals (Structural) 22 Dec 10 13:52
1. You can change Ig (if required) using the shell stiffness modifiers.
2. You can change Ec using material properties (specify 0.8E as your concrete Ec)
That way what you end up with is 0.8 Ec Ig

Dear friends, thank you for your response
It is a little bit a problem.

If i reduce modul of elasticity i affect all rigidities Flexural, shear and axial
Exactly im trying to do what fema 356 - chapter 6 - concrete - Table 6-5 - Effective Stiffness
values recomend:
Walls uncracked ( on inspection)

Flexural Rigidity 0.8 EcIg, Shear Rigidity 0.4EcAw, Axial Rigidity EcAg
Walls - cracked -
Flexural Rigidity 0.5 EcIg, Shear Rigidity 0.4EcAw, Axial Rigidity EcAg
Now if i reduce modul of elasticity , i affect also axial rigidity and reducing values for flexure and
shear are not same , which value to reduce E, with 0.8 or 0.4.
Regards
ZG
Property Modfiers_Etabs!!!
Started by waqar saleem, October 3, 2012
Property modifiers
etabs
22 posts in this topic

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waqar saleem 250
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Posted October 3, 2012
Respected Members,
what is the main purpose of property modifiers in defining farme sections in etabs
and how we can relate them to theoretical knowledge??
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Rana 795
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Property modifiers in etabs are used to model cracked behaviour of concrete
sections. They are only applied to concrete members because of cracking.
Gross moment of inertia is bd^3/12 for a rectangular section, but when you make
this member of concrete, it will experience cracking when loaded after some time.
This cracking will happen when concrete reaches its tensile capacity which is about
7-10% of its compressive strength. Formula to calculate cracking moments are
given in ACI. For example 3000psi will have only 300psi of tensile strength. Actually
the reinforcement starts its work when concrete cracks because of tension. After
cracking concrete is no longer able to carry tension so steel starts taking the
tension.
So now if concrete cracks after 300psi the moment of inertia will be reduced
because of cracking. If moment of inertia is reduced, its stiffness is reduced, taking
less moment, and its deflection increases because of less stiffness.
This moment which the cracked beam is not taking anymore will be re distributed to
other structural members based on their stiffness.
If you read ACI chapter 10, there are many sets of modifiers used for different types
of analysis.
ok im leaving from office, if you have more doubts i will write in later.
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UmarMakhzumi 835
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Posted October 4, 2012 (edited)
The use of these property modifiers coefficients should be for serviceability.
Update: Members should be checked for strength checks also using cracked section
properties.
Edited November 12, 2014 by Umar Makhzumi
Updated Answer
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Rana 795
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On 04-10-2012 at 8:34 PM, Umar Makhzumi said:
The use of these property modifiers coefficients is for serviceability checks only, not
for strength checks.
please explain more as i here im a little confused about your statement.
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UmarMakhzumi 835
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On 05-10-2012 at 8:20 PM, Rana Waseem said:
please explain more as i here im a little confused about your statement.
Deflections are affected, not the reinforcement. you can check that manually.
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Rana 795
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On 05-10-2012 at 10:42 PM, Umar Makhzumi said:
Deflections are affected, not the reinforcement. you can check that manually.
WITH MODIFIERS (MORE INERTIA) MORE STIFFNESS SO MORE MOMENT
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Rana 795
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WITHOUT MODIFIERS LESS MOMENT LESS STIFFNESS
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Rana 795
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So just compare the two images, model having modifiers have less stiffness, so take
less moment, that moment is distributed to other stiff elements.
so the point is if you reduce the stiffness as in case of cracking, it will affect
deflection as well as moments. so the reinforcement values depend upon the
moment. I agree with you that in beam design formula, it depends upon b and d.
Now this b and d are not with modifiers rather full values.
But the moment which has to be used in this formual is less because of less
stiffness due to reduction in modifiers.
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Rana 795
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another thing. if you put the same modifiers for every thing like walls, columns,
beams, floor etc..so the reduction will be uniform it will not affect the results. but if
you make something stiffer and another less stiffer so you basically are creating
differences in stiffness so is the difference in the moment that will goto these
elements. like in this example i have applied
beams = 0.35,0.35,0.35 (j,m22,m33)
cols = 0.7,0.7 (m11,m22)
slab = 0.25,0.25,0.25 (m11,m12,m22)
walls = 0.7,0.7(m11,m22)
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BAZ 387
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Umar is right. Use section modifiers for serviceability checks.
Quote
beams = 0.35,0.35,0.35 (j,m22,m33)
cols = 0.7,0.7 (m11,m22)
slab = 0.25,0.25,0.25 (m11,m12,m22)
walls = 0.7,0.7(m11,m22)
This set of modifiers are mentioned in section 10.11.1 of 05 addition which is
dedicated to computation of lateral deflections of frame. Remember that code
specifications are based on worst case scenario, and these values are worst case
scenario for lateral deflections of frame.
For elastic analysis of frame it is OK to use gross properties based on rectangular
section as it is done in ETABS . We provide rectangular beam section properties in
ETABS, but cast in place beam has T section in positive region while rectangular
section in negative region, so using rectangular section along entire length
compensates for that.
Moreover if bottom reinforcement of beam is developed in column, as it is normally
done, it increases stiffness of beam in negative region. Amount of reinforcement
provided in section also plays its role and we dont know how much reinforcement
will be required before starting analysis.
Bottom line: it is complex topic and one have to use assumptions. Even if one is
using 0.35 and 0.7 factors to size the xsection of member, structure should still
stand provided assumptions are uniform through out the analysis, as concrete has
this ability to distribute moments according to provided reinforcement.
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Rana 795
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I know in the code these modifiers are for lateral deflection. but then how would you
justify the reduced moment of inertia after cracking? Are you talking about
membrane slab which has no out of plane stiffness? Yeah in membrane the modfiers
will not affect but in shell if you dont apply the modifers, the slab will carry all the
moment.
I just want to be more clear about the concept, because we apply modfiers in every
model. and according to ACI we can use the same modifiers set for lateral and for
strength design. (for wind serviceability the modifiers are multiplied by 1.4 in a
separate model).
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BAZ 387
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What you do is according to code. There is nothing wrong about it.
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UmarMakhzumi 835
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On 06-10-2012 at 6:14 PM, Rana Waseem said:
I know in the code these modifiers are for lateral deflection. but then how would you
justify the reduced moment of inertia after cracking? Are you talking about
membrane slab which has no out of plane stiffness? Yeah in membrane the modfiers
will not affect but in shell if you dont apply the modifers, the slab will carry all the
moment.
I just want to be more clear about the concept, because we apply modfiers in every
model. and according to ACI we can use the same modifiers set for lateral and for
strength design. (for wind serviceability the modifiers are multiplied by 1.4 in a
separate model).
I think, considering LRFD load factors provides enough factor of safety. Specifically
you can never "justify reduced moment of inertia after cracking" and no one knows
how real the exact cracking would be, what would be its extent and how different
the load distribution would be after that.
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waqar saleem 250

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@RANA when we say that uncracked section has more inertia and more stiffness
and more moment taking but cracked section has less inertia and less stiffness and
less moment taking,inertia is the geometric property moment taking is related to
strength, uncracked concrete section has less strength than cracked section so sir
Rana what do you say about that?also in case of concrete when section is cracked it
means it has started taking loads otherwise its strength is not fully generated so
what about the stiffness of cracked and uncracked section?
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waqar saleem 250

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please differentiate shell and membrane ?how do we say that one slab is membrane
and other is shell or plate ?
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UmarMakhzumi 835
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On 06-10-2012 at 11:11 PM, waqar saleem said:
for simplicity, remember this
if it has out of plane stiffness its shell, if not its membrane.
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BAZ 387
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membrane is capable of taking tensile stresses only like our skin or tarpal (urdu
word). Word slab used in structural engineering cant be membrane.
shall is capable of taking shear and moment. Any thing that can take shear or
moment can also take direct tension or compression.
plate is shell/slab loaded in its plane like shear wall.
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BAZ 387
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flexural stiffness of section is ability to attract moments. so cracked section will
attract lesser moment as only part of section is available to resist rotation. Do not
confuse moment attracting ability( stiffness) of section with its strength. Section
with lesser stiffness can have greater strength as it depends upon material
strengths, reinforcement and size and shape crossection.
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UmarMakhzumi 835
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Quote
Quote
flexural stiffness of section is ability to attract moments. so cracked section will
attract lesser moment as only part of section is available to resist rotation. Do not
confuse moment attracting ability( stiffness) of section with its strength. Section
with lesser stiffness can have greater strength as it depends upon material
strengths, reinforcement and size and shape crossection.
To sum it here, design your members for augmented loads(with load factors) and
check them for serviceability with cracked section.. its a conservative way, super
conservative to get good design. All members are good, even if they crack and
meet serviceability requirements (which may be different upon their intended use).
Update: Members should also be checked for strength using cracked sections. Its
more safe to apply to both serviceability and strength conditions.
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UmarMakhzumi 835
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On 06-10-2012 at 11:25 PM, baz said:
membrane is capable of taking tensile stresses only like our skin or tarpal (urdu
word). Word slab used in structural engineering cant be membrane.
shall is capable of taking shear and moment. Any thing that can take shear or
moment can also take direct tension or compression.
plate is shell/slab loaded in its plane like shear wall.
here is an excerpt from on of my fav books on structural design, I read it some 3
years back, and it always reminds me how we structural engineers can exploit
material properties to achieve robust designs.
Quote
Because concrete is easily formed and shaped, its compression strength makes it
the ideal material
for shells of any nature. The work of Felix Candela in developing plates and shells
wherein he
spans 100 m with a 5 cm concrete shell truly opens the possibility for the free form
Catia-driven
shapes of Gehry Buildings in concrete.
Concrete is perfect for membrane stresses. The potential was realized in my design
of the 120 ft
diameter roof of the Lebanon Senior High School. This roof was flat and was
spanned using a 20 in.
thick hollow slab. This span and thickness of concrete were made possible by the
fact that as a circular
shell deflects, it creates compression in membrane stresses, thus minimizing the
deflection.
Dr. Timoshenko, the father of concrete plates and shells, shows that the span of a
circular slab is
represented by the radius of the circle rather than its diameter.
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BAZ 387
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clearly he defined membrane member which can also take compression. What is
terminology used for members that can only take tension (i am not talking about
cables) like tarpal.
This span and thickness of concrete were made possible by the fact that as a
circular shell deflects, it creates compression in membrane stresses, thus
minimizing the deflection.
Did you get the picture of section he might have used for roof slab? I mean there
has to something between compression and tension parts of slab.
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UmarMakhzumi 835
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On 07-10-2012 at 0:08 AM, baz said:
clearly he defined membrane member which can also take compression. What is
terminology used for members that can only take tension (i am not talking about
cables) like tarpal.
This span and thickness of concrete were made possible by the fact that as a
circular shell deflects, it creates compression in membrane stresses, thus
minimizing the deflection.
Did you get the picture of section he might have used for roof slab? I mean there
has to something between compression and tension parts of slab.
It doesn't specifies, it just says hollow slab 20 " thick. There might be.
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What are stiffness modifiers in Etabs?

What are stiffness modifiers in Etabs?

Is there any mention of these in IS 456?

Will I be overestimating strength if I do not apply stiffness modifiers ?

Karanpal Singh, Structural Engineer

Nishant Rathi, Structural Engineer

Sujaykumar R SanglikarPhysically Human,Mentally Zombie...!

Stiffness modifier for beam, column, wall, slab

Thank you for your response.

Hope that makes sense. Post if you have other questions.

I really appreciate your response, your explanation is technically clear.

Thank you so much.

Regarding to fema 356

RE: Stiffness modifier for beam, column, wall, slab

That way what you end up with is 0.8 Ec Ig

It is a little bit a problem.

Walls uncracked ( on inspection)

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WITH MODIFIERS (MORE INERTIA) MORE STIFFNESS SO MORE MOMENT

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