Vertical Floor Accelerations

[ccharrin]

Hello all,

I am trying to track the vertical floor accelerations of a fiber element frame model. To do so, I must input a recorder at midspan of the beam members. I have read that you should not input a node at midspan when using force based beam-columns as it causes stress buildups at the node and leads to convergence errors. The only other option I know of is to use displacement based beam columns (approximately 4 to 5 per span), but then I run the risk of having global convergence issues. Are there any other options available for recording vertical floor accelerations?

Thank you for you reply,
Cody Harrington

[fmk]

you can only record accel at the nodes .. you tend to have the global convergence problems if you are experiencing convergence problems in the force beam column elements.

[ccharrin]

Thank you for your response fmk. I will proceed with dispBeamColumns then.