Plan of moment about Y-Y axis at opening. The circled moment is displayed as non-zero.

The plotted moments are smoothed curves of the element center moments.

A slab element at a free edge may have a small moment at it center. The values shown between element centers are interpolated, but since there is no element outside the edge, there is no way for that value to ever reach zero.

For better visual results (values closer to zero at the edge), you should use smaller elements at the edge. The distance from the edge to the edge element center is the most important parameter.

The explanation is the same as the preceding question.

The two plots for maximum and minimum differ if you have one of the following conditions:

• Alternate envelope factors that are not the same as the load factors (see About alternate envelope factors ).

  For example, for the service load combination, the load factor on live load could be 1.0 and the alternate envelope factor could be 0.0. This would produce differing maximum and minimum values.

• Pattern loadings
• More than one load combination using the same rule set.

The default plot shows the maximum and minimum deflections. You could choose to show just the maximum values via the plot dialog, but remember that the absolute of minimum could be more than the maximum. It would be possible that minimum governs if you have upward deflection.