Structural Engineering & Statics
where the load goes
Generator

The punching-perimeter generator

Rendered here at the parameters it defaults to, with every essay that calls it — which is the same list as the blast radius of changing it.
A check made on a perimeter, not on a sectionOne bay of a flat slab, 7.2 m square, on a 400 × 400 mm column. The heavy closed line is the control perimeter, 2d from the column face with its corners rounded at that radius — 4427 mm long against 1600 mm round the column itself. The shaded area inside it delivers no shear across it and is subtracted from the load; everything outside arrives through the perimeter. At 12 kN/m² that is 604 kN across 4427 × 225 mm, a shear stress of 0.606 N/mm² against a resistance of 0.658.2d = 450column7.2 m bayperimeter u₁ = 4427 mmshear to carry V = 604 kNv = 0.606 against 0.658 N/mm²92% of the resistance used

A check made on a perimeter, not on a section. One bay of a flat slab, 7.2 m square, on a 400 × 400 mm column. The heavy closed line is the control perimeter, 2d from the column face with its corners rounded at that radius — 4427 mm long against 1600 mm round the column itself. The shaded area inside it delivers no shear across it and is subtracted from the load; everything outside arrives through the perimeter. At 12 kN/m² that is 604 kN across 4427 × 225 mm, a shear stress of 0.606 N/mm² against a resistance of 0.658.

2 essays call punching-perimeter. The drawing above is what it returns with no arguments at all; every call below passes it something, because a placement that passes nothing draws whichever member of the family the generator happens to default to rather than the one its essay argues about.

Where it is called

Changing this generator changes every one of these figures.

2d = 450column7.2 m bayperimeter u₁ = 4427 mmshear to carry V = 604 kNv = 0.606 against 0.658 N/mm²92% of the resistance used Internal forces

A check made on a perimeter, not on a section

Every shear check in this collection is made on a plane cut through a member. A slab sitting on a column has no such plane, because the shear leaves in every direction at once — so the check is made on a closed line, and a line grows with the column while the load grows with the square of the bay.

 water table39.2 kN/m² upward, everywhereweight 18.7 MN6 muplift 23.54 MN · weight 18.72 MNfactor against flotation 0.80no strength appears anywhere in that ratio Equilibrium

A basement is a boat

Every load in this collection presses down and is resisted by strength. Hydrostatic uplift presses up, is resisted by weight, and does not care what is built on it — so the check contains no material property at all. It is a ratio of two weights, and one of them is water.

The library, page 4 of 6 — where punching-perimeter sits