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Section cuts are useful for obtaining the resultant forces which act within a specified section-cut plane.

Section cuts may be defined using any of the following methods:

Each of these section-cut types may be implemented through the procedures described in the following sections:

On this page:

1. Define a quadrilateral cutting plane

Section-cut forces are the sum of joint forces for all joints which are:

Joint forces are then summed about the location specified during section-cut definition using the Results Reported at the Location parameter.

The procedure for defining a quadrilateral cutting plane is as follows:

Launch the Section Cut Data form by selecting Define > Section Cuts > Add Section Cut.

Select Quadrilateral Cutting Planes, then define the plane by specifying its joint coordinates, as shown in Figure 1:

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Figure 1 - Define a quadrilateral cutting plane

For assistance with additional fields on this form, press F1 to access Context Help.

Once analysis is run, section-cut forces are available in tabular format through Display > Show Tables > Analysis Results > Structure Output > Other Output Items > Table: Section Cut Forces - Analysis, as shown in Figure 2:

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Figure 2 - Section-cut forces

2. Define a group

The procedure is very similar to defining section cuts by quadrilateral cutting planes, except for that you specify a group of elements that will define the section cut. Then, SAP2000 calculates the section cut forces by summing the element joint forces from the frame, shell and link members included in the group that defines the section cut. The section cut group must also include all the joints from which the element joint forces should be summed up:

Another alternative is to draw section cuts within the graphical interface using "Draw > Draw Section Cut" menu command. This will display the section cut forces directly on the "Section Cut Forces & Stresses" form shown below.