OpenSees
Encyclopedia
OpenSees, the Open System for Earthquake Engineering
Simulation, is an object-oriented, open source
software framework created at the NSF-sponsored Pacific Earthquake Engineering
(PEER) Center. It allows users to create finite element applications for simulating the response of structural and geotechnical systems subjected to earthquakes. This framework was developed by Frank McKenna and Gregory L. Fenves with significant contributions from Michael H. Scott, Terje Haukaas, Armen Der Kiureghian, Remo M. de Souza, Filip C. Filippou, Silvia Mazzoni, and Boris Jeremic. OpenSees is primarily written in C++
and uses several Fortran
numerical libraries for linear equation solving.
programming language. The TclModelBuilder class in the OpenSees framework extends an instance of the Tcl interpreter with commands for finite element model building and analysis.
OpenSees developers access the source code using CVS
. Although anyone may check-out the source code anonymously, only a handful of individuals have check-in access.
.
The doctoral thesis of Frank McKenna on parallel object-oriented structural analysis formed the basis for "G3."
Earthquake engineering
Earthquake engineering is the scientific field concerned with protecting society, the natural and the man-made environment from earthquakes by limiting the seismic risk to socio-economically acceptable levels...
Simulation, is an object-oriented, open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
software framework created at the NSF-sponsored Pacific Earthquake Engineering
(PEER) Center. It allows users to create finite element applications for simulating the response of structural and geotechnical systems subjected to earthquakes. This framework was developed by Frank McKenna and Gregory L. Fenves with significant contributions from Michael H. Scott, Terje Haukaas, Armen Der Kiureghian, Remo M. de Souza, Filip C. Filippou, Silvia Mazzoni, and Boris Jeremic. OpenSees is primarily written in C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
and uses several Fortran
Fortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
numerical libraries for linear equation solving.
Usage
Users of OpenSees create applications by writing scripts in the TclTcl
Tcl is a scripting language created by John Ousterhout. Originally "born out of frustration", according to the author, with programmers devising their own languages intended to be embedded into applications, Tcl gained acceptance on its own...
programming language. The TclModelBuilder class in the OpenSees framework extends an instance of the Tcl interpreter with commands for finite element model building and analysis.
OpenSees developers access the source code using CVS
Concurrent Versions System
The Concurrent Versions System , also known as the Concurrent Versioning System, is a client-server free software revision control system in the field of software development. Version control system software keeps track of all work and all changes in a set of files, and allows several developers ...
. Although anyone may check-out the source code anonymously, only a handful of individuals have check-in access.
Acronym
The proper acronym capitalization for the "Open System for Earthquake Engineering Simulation" is OpenSees, as opposed to OpenSEES. This reflects the same unconventional capitalization of TclTcl
Tcl is a scripting language created by John Ousterhout. Originally "born out of frustration", according to the author, with programmers devising their own languages intended to be embedded into applications, Tcl gained acceptance on its own...
.
History
Prior to taking on the name "OpenSees," the framework was simply called "G3" in reference to the name of the PEER research group tasked with simulation development.The doctoral thesis of Frank McKenna on parallel object-oriented structural analysis formed the basis for "G3."