What is the span

What is a span?

First of all, it is important to define what the term span exactly mean. In SCIA Engineer terminology the span is one of the following:

• if a 1D member is defined by means of a polyline, the span is the segment between two adjacent vertices,

• if a linked node (or several of these) is defined on a 1D member, the span is either (i) the segment between two adjacent linked nodes, or (ii) between a linked node and the adjacent end-node of the 1D member,

• any combination of the above mentioned options.

Note: A linked node does not have to be only in a real "connection" of two 1D members. It is possible to define a linked node anywhere along a 1D member and let it "unlinked" to any other member.

What is NOT a span?

In order to prevent misunderstanding, it may be also good to state what is NOT the span:

• The span is NOT a segment between a node (either end node or linked node) and a crosslink.

• The span is NOT a segment between two intersections of a 1D member with two other 1D members unless linked nodes have been defined in the intersections.

• The span is NOT a segment between a node (either end node or linked node) and a support-on-beam. The span is neither a segment between two supports-on-beam.

• The span is NOT a segment between two end nodes if several 1D members lie in one line and touch each other by their end points. In this case, each "segment" is a full 1D member. No spans appear on such a structure.