I proposed a simplified model of a strongback frame system as a modeling challenge and five people took the bait. I am happy to report that all five computed the expected roof displacement of 0.0128 mm, give or take 0.0001 mm. Good job, everyone! Having given this problem as an OpenSeesPy assignment for a couple … Continue reading Semi-Blind Kind of Contest Results
Category: Community
A Semi-Blind Kind of Contest
Contests where researchers and practitioners blindly predict the response of structural systems have produced some rather interesting results. And by "interesting", I mean "all over the place". So much so, that in an effort to protect the contestants, the contest organizers rarely make the results publicly available. Nonlinear structural analysis is hard though. Even with … Continue reading A Semi-Blind Kind of Contest
OpenSees Time Machine
I recently found two Zip disks in my office. They were the next big thing for about 15 minutes in the late 1990s and early 2000s. I then got my hands on an external Zip drive and was able to offload the disks' contents. One disk has lecture notes and assignments from a few graduate … Continue reading OpenSees Time Machine
Only Their Mother Can Tell Them Apart
In January 1999, when OpenSees was known as G3, Prof. Fenves created G2 for teaching nonlinear structural analysis in CE 221 at UC Berkeley. G2 was written in MATLAB with an architecture similar to G3. I took CE 221 and used G2 for the homework assignments, but after a few years I lost the code. … Continue reading Only Their Mother Can Tell Them Apart
No CAPS When You Spell the Framework’s Name
MF DOOM is one of the greatest lyricists--of any genre--that you've probably never heard of. In his 2004 track "All Caps" with Madlib, DOOM explains how his stage name should be written. All CAPS when you spell the man's name. MF DOOM, 2004 The preferred capitalization of OpenSees is not so clear. I often see … Continue reading No CAPS When You Spell the Framework’s Name