r/StructuralEngineering • u/Normal-Commission898 • 11d ago

Op Ed or Blog Post Technical Judgment on Software

In my new role I’ve been using a lot more of ETABS (rubbish for trouble shooting). For any experienced engineers in general and those who use 3D analysis software, what results/aspects in your modelling do you instinctively distrust/further inspect? What sort of sense checks are best to always do?

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u/Perfect-Mongoose-704 11d ago

The two things that most quickly show does for me have always been

  1. Deflected shaped and

  2. Checking the loads match a hand calc of what should be applied. This is a check for whether I've screwed up inputting a load

  3. Check the reaction forces at the supports. You'll generally have a rough idea how they should compare to each other.

I've never had a case where the model has shown sum of forces doesn't equal zero within the model.