Moment curvature units

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aisan
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Aug 04, 2009 4:56 pm

Moment curvature units

Post by aisan »

Hi all,

I have a question regarding moment curvature units. I have defined my units library as below:

set m 1.; # Define Basic Unit - Length
set kg 1.; # Define Basic Unit - Mass
set sec 1.; # Define Basic Unit - Time
set rad 1.; # Define Basic Unit - Radians

set N [expr $kg*$m/pow($sec,2)]; # Define Engineering Units - Newton
set kN [expr $N*1000]; # Define Engineering Units - Kilo Newton
set Pa [expr $N/pow($m,2)]; # Define Engineering Units - Pascals
set MPa [expr $Pa*1000000]; # Define Engineering Units - Mega Pascal
set cm [expr $m/100]; # Define Engineering Units - Centimeter
set mm [expr $m/1000]; # Define Engineering Units - Milimeter

and in my section and analysis file I have entered all the values in Mpa, N, and mm.
Knowing this what is the unit for moment and curvature?

aisan
silvia
Posts: 3909
Joined: Tue Jan 11, 2005 7:44 am
Location: Degenkolb Engineers
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Post by silvia »

this is the problem with the metric units that i can't figure out.
you define kg as a mass, then N as 1.*$kg, does this mean that g is one?
i think the first kg is kg force not mass.
what happened to 9.8?

the units will then be force*length for moment and 1/length for curvature, whatever the basic units result there.

in these cases you should define forces as basic units, not masses.
Silvia Mazzoni, PhD
Structural Consultant
Degenkolb Engineers
235 Montgomery Street, Suite 500
San Francisco, CA. 94104
aisan
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Aug 04, 2009 4:56 pm

Post by aisan »

Hi silvia,

thanks for the response. I didn't post the complete library file. my bad.
here it is:
et m 1.; # Define Basic Unit - Length
set kg 1.; # Define Basic Unit - Mass
set sec 1.; # Define Basic Unit - Time
set rad 1.; # Define Basic Unit - Radians

set N [expr $kg*$m/pow($sec,2)]; # Define Engineering Units - Newton
set kN [expr $N*1000]; # Define Engineering Units - Kilo Newton
set Pa [expr $N/pow($m,2)]; # Define Engineering Units - Pascals
set MPa [expr $Pa*1000000]; # Define Engineering Units - Mega Pascal
set cm [expr $m/100]; # Define Engineering Units - Centimeter
set mm [expr $m/1000]; # Define Engineering Units - Milimeter

#Constants
set g [expr 9.81*$m/pow($sec,2)]; # Gravitational Acceleration
set PI [expr 2*asin(1.0)]; # PI constant 3.14159
et Ubig 1.e10; # a really large number
set Usmall [expr 1/$Ubig]; # a really small number

Would you please let me know how would you revise this file if you were supposed to write a unit file in SI? Can you please include in your examples SI units as well.

Thanks,
aisan
silvia
Posts: 3909
Joined: Tue Jan 11, 2005 7:44 am
Location: Degenkolb Engineers
Contact:

Post by silvia »

you have to talk to someone who knows more about si units.
i don't think that N = 1*kg

i think 1kg-force = 1kg-mass * g.
Silvia Mazzoni, PhD
Structural Consultant
Degenkolb Engineers
235 Montgomery Street, Suite 500
San Francisco, CA. 94104
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