| What is the difference between spWall and pcaWall? |
| pcaWall, also formerly known as PCA Wall and PCA TILT, was renamed spWall to better relate and support the registered trade name of the publisher, StructurePoint, formerly the PCA's Engineering Software Group |
| Does this program consider out-of-plane shear? |
| No. |
| I have two layers of reinforcement and the program tells me Asx and Asy after design. What is the area of rebar in each of the layers in X and Y direction, respectively? |
| Reinforcement area for each layer in X direction: Asx/2; Reinforcement area for each layer in Y direction: Asy/2 |
| Does this program consider in-plane shear? |
| Yes. |
| Which plate theory is this program based on? |
| Kirchoff thin plate theory. |
| What method does this program use? |
| Finite Element Method |
| Which design codes does this program support? |
| For information on supported design codes please visit spWall features. |
| What units are supported? |
| English and Metric |
| How can I show node, element or stiffener numbers on my grid view? |
| Select menu View | Preferences. Check Show Node Numbers or Show Element Numbers or Show Stiffener Numbers. |
| I checked Show Node Numbers and Show Element Numbers, but I still cannot see the numbers on grid view. Why? |
| You don’t have any finite elements (concrete). Please assign thickness to grid cells in the grid view first to create some finite elements. |
| What is the relationship between grid lines and finite elements? |
| A grid line cell (rectangular empty space surrounded by grid line) is a potential finite element. Assigning a thickness to a grid cell turns it into a finite element. |
| What are the directions of rebar Asx and Asy? |
| Asx refers to the rebar in X direction (parallel to X axis). Asy refers to the rebar in Y direction (parallel to Y axis). |
| Does this program support in-plane (X-Y wall plane) forces? |
| Yes. |
| In version 2.0, for one curtain reinforcement, what are the X-left and Y-left on the Design Criteria dialog box? |
| Looking at the positive X direction, X-left is the distance from the left surface of the wall to the center line of the reinforcing bars that are positioned in X direction. Y-left is the distance from the left surface of the wall to the center line of the reinforcing bars that are positioned in Y direction. |
| In version 2.0, for two curtain reinforcement, what are the X and Y on the Design Criteria dialog box? |
| The two curtains are assumed to be symmetric to the center plane of the wall. The X value is the distance from the center line of the reinforcing bars in X direction to the closest wall surface. The Y value is the distance from the center line of the reinforcing bars in Y direction to the closest wall surface. |
| It seems that my contours are wrong and they do not match the text results. Why? |
| Please upgrade to version 3.0 or higher. |
| Version 2.0 freezes when designing stiffeners. What should I do? |
| Please upgrade to version 3.0 or higher. |
| Using version 2.0, I get error message “Application Error: floating-point error: overflow” when I was trying to view contours and results. What should I do? |
| Please upgrade to version 3.0 or higher. |
| How can I export my results to a file? |
| Select menu File | Print Results. Select Output to File rather than Output to Printer. Type in a path and file name for the output file (i.e. C:\MyResults\Wall_1.out). Check the results you would like to output. Press the Print button. The saved file is a plane text file that can be opened and edited by any word processing software (i.e. Wordpad). |
