I am trying to model foundation systems in sap 2000 and am trying to model the soil as Gap( compression only link element). anyone with expreince on how to define this elements appropriately please help!
I used "Area Spring" for defining gap where foundation is modeled by shell element. It is easy and you must select the shell, then in Assign menu select "Area Spring" and then select the "Compression Only" in that menu. furthermore you need to make all combination load nonlinear.