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ETABS is the most advanced .ETABS has facility for:

- Construction sequence analysis.

- Push-over analysis. (RISA 3D also has this facility)

- Shear wall design thats practically very useful (STRAP also has this. Results from

STAAD are confusing to me)

- Live load reduction for upper floors (STAAD doesnt have this)

- Earth quake force can be applied in any angle (not just X and Y alone)

- Modelling tapered concrete beams

- Floor load for irregular panels, that is easy to do (STRAP too has this)

- Design of columns with cross section of any arbitrary shape (including T, L, +.

STRAP too has this)

- Diaphram action (with earthquake loads and wind loads automatically applied on

the diaphragm centre)

-Automatic lumping of masses for earthquake (STAAD doesnt have this, STRAP and

NISA/Civil has)

- Choice of Eigen or Ritz vector for Response Spectrum analysis

- Auto calculation of beam reinforcements based on moments at column face, rather

than at column centreline; and column reinforcements based on moments at beam

soffit, rather than at beam centreline

- Rigid panel zone modifier

* STAAD.Pro and ETABS has facility for design as per IS:13920 (ductile detailing).

* STAAD.Pro and ETABS has additional software for foundation design (especially

mat). They are STAAD.Foundation and SAFE respectively.

* NISA/Civil gives wonderful structural drawings that can be opened in AutoCAD.

* NISA, the general FEM package comes along with NISA/Civil. Around 10-12 years

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far more easier in Etabs.eg. SAP don't have storey response plots.

SAFE is used for foundation design and slab design only.

Another feature which make ETABS and SAP more attractive than STAAD is detailing

of members. detailing of Rebars are far more easier in ETABS u can also exportrebar area to excel for convinence.

Only fault i see is ETABS cannot generate the Floor loads. you have to model slabs

as plate element and mesh it and apply floor loads on it.Otherwise i think modelling

and rebar detailing is far easier in ETABS.

Another prime feature which ETABS and SAP has is modelling of Link elements.

You can model isolators, Damper, GAp , hook plastic elements.

You can also do multisupport excitation analysis on SAP using displacementtimeshistory. I dont think direct integration time history analysis is supported in

STAADpro which is essiential for nonlinear dynamic times history analysis (correct

me if i am wrong).

I am attaching the picture of finite element model done in SAP 2000.

please note the non-prismatic element used in Tower and pier of the bridge and also

the cable elements.

The SAP2000 program has the ability to solve the multi-support, soil-

structure interaction a facility which is not available in STAAD.

Etab -Extended alalysis for buildings-is good for both R.C.C and Steel structures

specially for buildings.

Safe is good for analysis and design with detailed reinforcement for slabs-flat slab,

beam and specially foundation designs of all types including raft with different

bearing capacity or soil spring for a structure is very good.

STAAD uses Matrix method of strucural analysis for members and FEA for

plates.Which method ETABS uses.

ETABS documentation gives no details of the solver it uses other than referring to it

as standard solver. It also mentions providing an alternate advance solver, of

which it says The advanced solver is based on proprietary CSI technology. It uses,

in part, code derived from TAUCS family of solvers.

This is unlike STAAD, where almost everyone who have used the earlier STAAD-III

must have seen the display Performing Modified Cholesky Triangular Factorization.

That was the name of the solver used until recently, when they came up with a

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faster Out-of-core solver.

3) 3D rendering facility in STAAD ..Is this available in ETABS also.

Hope the question has been answered

4) CSI Berkeley provides ETABS,SAP and SAFE..What is the difference in all three

because all this software comes from one company.

Hope the question has been answered.. to which Ill add:- ETABS is for buildings.

SAP is more general purpose. SAFE is specifically for slab-floor sub models, like flat

slab design (one floor at a time), raft foundation, etc. (The etc. includes combined

footings and pile caps).

ETABS can have floor loads. You can provide membrane elements and apply loads

on it. Though they are called membrane elements, they are actually floor objects

that automatically distribute loads to supporting beams in the 2-way distribution

pattern. Only that in ETABS, it works only if horizontal. So it doesnt work for sloping

roofs.

Such floor objects are easier than the FLOAD option of STAAD.Pro (which require

(measuring and) inputting the actual x-y coordinate ranges of each slab or a set of

slabs). Floor objects are also available in STRAP, NISA/Civil (and its building specificversion DesignStudio) packages, and the (much) awaited STAAD.X package. Of

course, its also there in SCADDS, Struds, and most probably in RISA, STRUDL, etc.

Also that last time when I said STRAP has a Wood-Armor facility with graphics,

which I have seen elsewhere only in Civil/FEM, I wish to make more clear that

STRAP has the wood-armor results in numerals displayed over each plate element in

graphics, whereas in Civil/FEM, it is in contour plot form.

Sap2000 and STAAD are two most popular structural analysis programs available for

civil/structural engineers. They are used to calculate the forces, stress and deflection

of structural members under variety of loads. These programs also come with design

codes to help in designing structural members.

STAAD was originally developed by Research Engineers International. The companywas brought by Bentley Systems in late 2005.

Structural Analysis Program (SAP) was originally developed by the researchers at UCBerkeley. The program was a DOS based structural analysis tool. Later, its

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commercial version was developed by adding graphical users interface (GUI) byComputer and Structure, Inc., also based in Berkely, California. Another product ofComputer and Structure, ETABS was used to design worlds tallest building, BurjKhalifa.

Pricewise, STAAD.Pro is cheaper. The text editor feature in STAAD.Pro is somethingdesigners find useful in changing inputs easily and versatile. Some facts that makeSTAAD are the additional modules that to design connections and foundations.

SAP2000s grid system makes it easier to draw the model on screen. The dynamicanalysis and seismic analysis of structure is more matured in SAP 2000. Designersfind the automatic calculation of static seismic forces very helpful. It also accountsfor creep and shrinkage of concrete. It can also import models from STAAD.Promodels. It also has a facility of performing nonlinear static analysis (pushoveranalysis).