dispBeamColumn Elements for Columns

[GioKidis]

Hi all,
I know that in order to achieve good accuracy when using dispBeamColumn elements the element needs to be divided into multiple segments. Is this necessary however for columns where the bending moment diagram is a straight line? In other words if I leave the columns undivided and still use dispBeamColumn to model them, will that affect the final outcome of the analysis? Would a better solution be to use forceBeamColumn for the columns and dispBeamColumn for beams where the BMD is a curve?
Cheers

[selimgunay]

Yes, the dispbeamcolumn has linear curvature over the element. Even if your moment diagram is linear, the curvature would be nonllinear for the nonlinear elastic cases. lease see below link for a detailed explanation:

http://opensees.berkeley.edu/wiki/index ... ed_Element