The program includes an option of including out-of-plane stiffness for walls. If this option is checked, analysis for created load cases is carried out by considering out-of-plane stiffness of walls. It should be noted that it is applied all wall elements in the model if out-of-plane stiffness option is checked.

Another option is provided to release rotational fixity at wall foundation nodes. If it is checked, the program releases rotational fixity at wall foundation nodes, and then very week rotational springs are added at these nodes to prevent any instability. Analysis Log report provides further information about these foundation nodes. Note that this is only applied for foundation nodes under walls. If this option is not checked, wall foundation nodes are assumed to be fixed.

Also included is an option to store wall stresses and internal forces for analyzed load cases. If the option is selected, wall stresses and internal forces are stored. This information is later used to display wall stresses and internal forces on screen. In addition, wall stresses are available in the Shear Wall Module.

Modeling of coupling beams for shear walls can be carried out by using either frame (beam) elements or shell (wall) elements. For deep coupling beams, it is recommended to use shell elements , which captures shear dominated behavior very well. For slender coupling beams, a beam element may be sufficient to capture bending action. On the other hand, for moderately deep coupling beams, using beam element alone may not be sufficient to capture both shear and bending actions. In these cases, it is recommended to use "Include Rigid Link at Fixed Beam-to-Wall Locations" option. If this option is selected, the program internally provides a rigid link at the location where a coupling beam frames into a shear wall.