Known issues

For general issues identified and planned to be fixed see the issue page.

There are some known limitations with the ETABS object model that might make some information get lost when pushing to the software. The known limitations are outlined below.

It is important that all unique section properties, materials, constraints and releases have a unique name, to be able to push all objects to ETABS. Objects with the same name will be treated as the same object.

Node

Missing properties:

• Name

Node constraints below

Bar

ETABS does not have a concept for a FEAType. All bars will be assumed as Flexural.
Missing Properties:

• Name

Bar releases, materials and Section properties below

Limitation:

• The end nodes sometimes switches position This is handled for all properties except sections which can't be mirrored in ETABSs API. The Bars with the orientation they have in ETABS is returned by the Push.

Panel

Vertical or close to vertical Panels in ETABS will come in as walls. Walls in ETABS are limited to four linear edges and can not contain any openings. Be sure to split up your wall panels accordingly before trying to push them!

Missing properties:

• Name

FEMesh

There is currently not possible to add meshes to ETABS through the API. Pushing of 2D-elements is limited to Panels.

Material

Note that ETABS_Toolkit will try to use pre-existing materials if name of the assigned material matches the name of a material in ETABS.

If any numerical analytical value of the material is out of bounds of what ETABS deems reasonable for the material type, default values for the type will be used instead for all of the analytical values for that material. These includes

• YoungsModulus
• PoissonsRatio
• ThermalExpansionCoeff

Missing properties:

• DampingRatio

Design properties are no pushed across. These are:

Steel

• YeildStress
• UltimateStress

Concrete

• CubeStrength
• CylinderStrength

Section Properties

Missing properties:

• Corner, toe and fillet radii
• Weld size
• Reinforcement (On concrete sections)

Limitations:

• Area and other related constants might get slightly changed due to the above mentioned missing radii and weld size properties

Surface Properties

Limitations:

• PanelType (Always set to 'Slab' on read)

Node Constraints

Missing properties:

• Name

Limitations:

• Translation and Rotation (X, Y, Z) DOF type is set to 'Free' or 'Fixed' only. All other constraints ('Spring', 'Damped' etc.) will all be set to 'Free' with 0 stiffness. If no constraint is set when pushing objects it will also be set to 'Free'.
• Nodes that are pushed will get a fix constraint if their position is on the base plane (Z = 0). This is a ETABS feature.

Bar Releases

Missing Properties:

• Name (Name of bar release and name of start/end-releases)

Rigid Links

Missing properties:

• XXtoYY, XXtoZZ, YYtoXX, YYtoZZ, ZZtoXX, ZZtoYY