Section Cutter

Section cutter is a plug-in tool for the definition of wall assemblies. It is necessary only with SAP and CSi Bridge. With ETABS, walls are defined directly within the main program.

Walls within the main program are modelled using shell elements. For the wall to be designed, the shell elements need to be organized into groups of vertical and horizontal wall components. Precisely: wall piers and wall spandrels.

Section cutter helps you to cut sections at significant locations within the wall components. Through these sections SAP will then calculate the resultant internal forces, to be later used by VIS for design. To ease speed and understanding of results, section cuts should be taken only at locations that are significant.

Walls could be planar or include many legs from multiple planes, as in core walls. Walls with openings can be constructed from several vertical piers and horizontal spandrels connecting around the openings.