OpenSees
Opensees is like a big toy box for engineers and scientists who want to build and play with virtual structures.
Imagine you have a bunch of Legos and you want to build a house. You can use different pieces to create walls, windows, doors, and a roof. But you can also add details like a staircase or furniture inside the house. The possibilities are endless and you can change the design anytime you want.
Opensees is a computer program that works similarly. Instead of Legos, it has different tools that allow you to create virtual structures like buildings, bridges, dams, or tunnels. These tools are called "elements" and they have special properties like stiffness, strength, and damping.
For example, you can use a "beam element" to represent a metal or wooden beam that supports a roof. This element has a length, a width, and a height, and you can assign a material property to it (e.g. steel, timber). You can also apply loads (e.g. weight of the roof tiles) and boundary conditions (e.g. fixed or pinned ends) to the beam.
Opensees also has other elements like "frame elements" (for trusses and frames), "shell elements" (for thin plates and shells), "solid elements" (for 3D shapes), and "contact elements" (for modeling friction and impact).
Once you have created your virtual structure, you can simulate its behavior under different conditions like earthquakes, wind, or traffic loads. You can also analyze the stresses, displacements, and accelerations that occur in the structure.
Opensees uses mathematical equations and algorithms to solve the equations of motion that describe the behavior of the structure. These equations are like rules that tell you how the Legos or the elements interact with each other.
Opensees is a powerful tool for engineers and scientists who want to test and improve their designs before building them in the real world. It is also free and open source, which means anyone can use it and contribute to its development.
Imagine you have a bunch of Legos and you want to build a house. You can use different pieces to create walls, windows, doors, and a roof. But you can also add details like a staircase or furniture inside the house. The possibilities are endless and you can change the design anytime you want.
Opensees is a computer program that works similarly. Instead of Legos, it has different tools that allow you to create virtual structures like buildings, bridges, dams, or tunnels. These tools are called "elements" and they have special properties like stiffness, strength, and damping.
For example, you can use a "beam element" to represent a metal or wooden beam that supports a roof. This element has a length, a width, and a height, and you can assign a material property to it (e.g. steel, timber). You can also apply loads (e.g. weight of the roof tiles) and boundary conditions (e.g. fixed or pinned ends) to the beam.
Opensees also has other elements like "frame elements" (for trusses and frames), "shell elements" (for thin plates and shells), "solid elements" (for 3D shapes), and "contact elements" (for modeling friction and impact).
Once you have created your virtual structure, you can simulate its behavior under different conditions like earthquakes, wind, or traffic loads. You can also analyze the stresses, displacements, and accelerations that occur in the structure.
Opensees uses mathematical equations and algorithms to solve the equations of motion that describe the behavior of the structure. These equations are like rules that tell you how the Legos or the elements interact with each other.
Opensees is a powerful tool for engineers and scientists who want to test and improve their designs before building them in the real world. It is also free and open source, which means anyone can use it and contribute to its development.