STRUCTURAL FE-SOFTWARE COUPLING THROUGH THE EXPERIMENTAL SOFTWARE FRAMEWORK, OPENFRESCO

摘要

This paper describes the continuing evolution of the Open-source Framework for Experimental Setup and Control (OpenFresco), an object oriented, environment independent software framework that can be utilized to couple any number of finite element analysis software packages in a modular and highly structured manner. The exchange of data between the coupled codes takes place through the connection of OpenFresco with special adapter elements, which are added to the finite element applications using their programming interface. An adapter element provides a versatile and computationally efficient method for coupling several finite element (FE) analysis programs so that the unique modeling and analysis capabilities of each can be utilized simultaneously in the simulation of a complete system. This approach provides the important advantage that all of the connected codes run continuously without the need to shutdown and restart, decreasing analysis time consumptions significantly. Speed of coupled simulations where one or more FE-software codes are used together, including cases where physical substructures are incorporated in the FE model for a hybrid test, are at least an order of magnitude faster than conventional approaches relying on shutting down and restarting the analysis in the coupled programs at each integration time step. The implementation and accuracy of this novel FE-software coupling are demonstrated using a dynamic analysis of a structural model from earthquake engineering.