Section Cutter

Section cutter is a plug-in tool for the definition of wall assemblies. It can be used for the definition of pier and spandrel objects in SAP and CSi Bridge or to combine simple piers in ETABS into a unique wall stack.

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.

Coupled walls can be defined using two vertical piers and horizontal spandrels connecting around the openings.