350

CHAPTER 36

analysis Command
This command is used to construct the Analysis object (page 336), which defines what type of
analysis is to be performed. The following analysis types are available:

Static Analysis (page 363) -- solves the KU=R problem, without the mass or damping
matrices.

Transient Analysis (page 364) -- solves the time-dependent analysis. The time step in this
type of analysis is constant. The time step in the output is also constant.

Variable Transient Analysis (page 365) -- performs the same analysis type as the Transient
Analysis object. The time step, however, is variable. This method is used when there are
convergence problems with the Transient Analysis object at a peak or when the time step is
too small. The time step in the output is also variable.
All currently-available analysis objects employ incremental solution strategies.

In This Chapter
Static Analysis.......................................................... 363
Transient Analysis .................................................... 364
VariableTransient Analysis ....................................... 365

Static Analysis
This command is used to construct a StaticAnalysis object.

analysis Static

This analysis object is constructed with the component objects previously created by the analyst.
If none has been created, default objects are constructed and used:

Component Object Default object

 Chapter 36 analysis Command 351

SolutionAlgorithm NewtonRaphson (page 352) EquiSolnAlgo with a

(page 352), CTestNormUnbalance (page 349) with a tolerance of 1e-6
StaticIntegrator (page and a maximum of 25 iterations
358, page 356, page
358, page 359)
ConstraintHandler PlainHandler (page 341) ConstraintHandler
(page 339)
DOF_Numberer (page RCM (page 345) DOF_Numberer
344)
LinearSOE (page 346), profiled symmetric positive definite (page 347) LinearSOE
LinearSolver (page and Linear Solver
346)
Integrator LoadControl StaticIntegrator (page 358) with a constant
load increment of 1.0

Transient Analysis
This command is used to construct a DirectIntegrationAnalysis object.

analysis Transient

This analysis object is constructed with the component objects previously created by the analyst.
If none has been created, default objects are constructed and used:

Component Object Default object

SolutionAlgorithm NewtonRaphson (page 352) EquiSolnAlgo with a
(page 352), CTestNormUnbalance (page 349) with a tolerance of 1e-6
TransientIntegrator and a maximum of 25 iterations
(page 356)
ConstraintHandler PlainHandler (page 341) ConstraintHandler
(page 339)
DOF_Numberer (page RCM (page 345) DOF_Numberer
344)
LinearSOE (page 346), profiled symmetric positive definite (page 347) LinearSOE
LinearSolver (page and Linear Solver
346)
 Chapter 36 analysis Command 352

Integrator Newmark TransientIntegrator (page 361) with γ=0.5 and

β=0.25

VariableTransient Analysis
This command is used to construct a VariableTimeStepDirectIntegrationAnalysis object.

analysis VariableTransient

This analysis object is constructed with the component objects previously created by the analyst.
If none has been created, default objects are constructed and used:

Component Object Default object

SolutionAlgorithm NewtonRaphson (page 352) EquiSolnAlgo with a
(page 352), CTestNormUnbalance (page 349) with a tolerance of 1e-6
TransientIntegrator and a maximum of 25 iterations
(page 356)
ConstraintHandler PlainHandler (page 341) ConstraintHandler
(page 339)
DOF_Numberer (page RCM (page 345) DOF_Numberer
344)
LinearSOE (page 346), profiled symmetric positive definite (page 347) LinearSOE
LinearSolver (page and Linear Solver
346)
Integrator Newmark TransientIntegrator (page 361) with γ=0.5 and
β=0.25
 353

CHAPTER 37

rayleigh command
This command is used to assign damping to all previously-defined elements and nodes:

rayleigh $alphaM $betaK $betaKinit $betaKcomm

The damping matrix D is specified as a combination of stiffness and mass-proportional damping

matrices:
D = $alphaM * M + $betaK * Kcurrent +$betaKinit * Kinit + $betaKcomm * KlastCommit

The mass and stiffness matrices are defined as:

M mass matrix used to calculate Rayleigh Damping
Kcurrent stiffness matrix at current state determination used to calculate
Rayleigh Damping
Kinit stiffness matrix at initial state determination used to calculate
Rayleigh Damping
KlastCommit stiffness matrix at last-committed state determination used to
calculate Rayleigh Damping
 354

CHAPTER 38

eigen Command
This command is used to perform a generalized eigenvalue problem to determine a specified
number of eigenvalues and eigenvectors.

eigen <$type> $numEigenvalues

$type eigen-value analysis type:

frequency solve: K- λ M
generalized solve: K- λ M (default)
standard solve: K- λ I
$numEigenvalues number of first eigenvalues (λ) to be determined

The eigenvectors are stored at the nodes and can be printed out using Node Recorder (page
326) or the Print command (page 372).

NOTE: The current eigensolver is able to solve only for N-1 eigenvalues, where N is the number
of interial DOFs. When running into this limitation, the user should add negligible masses to
additional unrestrained degrees of freedom.
For example, for a 3-dof/node problem, instead of:
mass 1 100 0 0
the user should input:
mass 1 100 1e-9 0
where dof-2 at node 1 is unrestrained.
 355

CHAPTER 39

analyze Command
This command is invoked on the Analysis object constructed with the analysis command (page
363).

analyze $numIncr <$dt> <$dtMin $dtMax $Jd>

$numIncr number of load steps

$dt time-step increment.
Required if a transient analysis (page 364) or variable time step
transient analysis (page 365) was specified.
$dtMin $dtMax minimum and maximum time steps
Required if a variable time step transient analysis (page 365)
was specified.
$Jd number of iterations performed at each step
Required if a variable time step transient analysis (page 365)
was specified.

This command RETURNS:

0 successful
<0 unsuccessful
 356

CHAPTER 40

dataBase Commands
This command is used to construct a FE_Datastore object.

Currently there is only one type of Datastore object available.

In This Chapter
FileDatastore Command........................................... 370

FileDatastore Command
This command is used to construct the FE_Datastore object.

database $type $dbName

$type database type:

File outputs database into a file
MySQL creates a SQL database
BerkeleyDB creates a BerkeleyDB database
$dbName database name.
If the database type is File, the command will save the data into
a number of files, e.g. $dbName.id11 for all ID objects of size 11
that sendSelf() is invoked upon.

The invocation of this command will add the additional commands save and restore to the
OpenSees interpreter to allow users to save and restore model states.
 Chapter 40 dataBase Commands 357

save Command
This command is used to save the state of the model in the database.

save $commitTag

$commitTag unique identifier that can be used to restore (page 371) the state
at a later time

restore Command
This command is used to restore the state of the model from the information stored in the
database.

restore $commitTag

$commitTag unique identifier used to restore the state at the model when the
save (page 371) command was invoked
 358

CHAPTER 41

Miscellaneous Commands
These are a few additional miscellaneous command used in OpenSees

In This Chapter
print Command......................................................... 372
reset Command........................................................ 373
wipe Command ........................................................ 373
wipeAnalysis Command ........................................... 374
loadConst Command................................................ 374
getTime Command................................................... 375
nodeDisp Command................................................. 375
video Command ....................................................... 375
nodeBounds ............................................................. 376
display Command..................................................... 377

print Command
This command is used to print output.

To print all objects of the domain:

print <$fileName>
To print node information:

print <$fileName> -node <-flag $flag> <$node1 $node2 ...>

To print element information:

print <$fileName> -ele <-flag $flag> <$ele1 $ele2 ...>

$fileName fileName for printed output (optional, Default: stderr -- screen

dump)
 Chapter 41 Miscellaneous Commands 359

$flag integer flag to be sent to the print() method, depending on the

node and element type (optional)
$node1 $node2 ... node tag for selected-node output (optional)
Default: all
$ele1 $ele2 ... element tag for selected-element output (optional)
Default: all

reset Command
This command is used to set the state of the domain to its original state.

reset

The command invokes revertToStart() on the Domain (page 32) object.

wipe Command
This command is used to destroy all constructed objects.

wipe

This command is used to start over without having to exist and restart the interpreter (page 19).

wipeAnalysis Command
This command is used to destroy all objects constructed for the analysis.

wipeAnalysis
 Chapter 41 Miscellaneous Commands 360

This command is used to start a new type of analysis. This command does not destroy the
elements (page 213), nodes (page 39), materials (page 175, page 47), etc. It does destroy the
solution strategies: the algorithm (page 352), analysis (page 363), equation solver (page 346),
constraint handler (page 339), etc.

loadConst Command
This command is used to invoke setLoadConst() on all LoadPattern (page 317) objects which
have been created up to this point.

loadConst <-time $pseudoTime>

-time $pseudoTime set pseudo time in the domain to $pseudoTime (optional,

default: zero)

getTime Command
This command returns the time in the domain.

getTime

nodeDisp Command
Returns the displacement or rotation at specified node.

nodeDisp $nodeTag $dof

$nodeTag node tag

$dof degree-of-freedom tag
Valid range is from 1 through ndf (page 37), the number of
nodal degrees-of-freedom. (???)
 Chapter 41 Miscellaneous Commands 361

video Command
This command is used to construct a TclVideoPlayer object for displaying the images in a file
created by the recorder display (page 333) command.

video -file $fileName -window $windowName

$fileName fileName of images file created by the recorder display (page

333) command
$windowName name of window to be created

The images are displayed by invoking the play (page 376) command.
 Chapter 41 Miscellaneous Commands 362

play Command
This command is used to play the TclVideoPlayer object created by the video (page 375)
command.

play

nodeBounds
This commands returns a 5-element list of the max and min coordinates of the nodes defined in
the domain:

nodeBounds

The command returns: "Xmin Ymin Zmin Xmax Ymax Zmax", independently of the domain
dimensions, 1D, 2D or 3D, zeros are returned for the extra dimensions.

This command is useful when setting up a display.

Example:
3D set Xmin [lindex [nodeBounds] 0];
set Ymin [lindex [nodeBounds] 1];
set Zmin [lindex [nodeBounds] 2];
set Xmax [lindex [nodeBounds] 3];
set Ymax [lindex [nodeBounds] 4];
set Zmax [lindex [nodeBounds] 5];
2D set Xmin [lindex [nodeBounds] 0];
set Ymin [lindex [nodeBounds] 1];
set Xmax [lindex [nodeBounds] 3];
set Ymax [lindex [nodeBounds] 4];
1D set Xmin [lindex [nodeBounds] 0];
set Xmax [lindex [nodeBounds] 3];
 Chapter 41 Miscellaneous Commands 363

display Command
This command is used to display the model defined in the domain, and is associated with the
display recorder (page 333):

display $arg1 $arg2 $amplification

Example usage:
set dAmp 10; # this amplification is dependent on the model size

if {$ShapeType == "ModeShape" } {
display -$nEigen 0 $dAmp; # display mode shape for mode $nEigen
} elseif {$ShapeType == "NodeNumbers" } {
display 1 -1 0 ; # display node numbers
} elseif {$ShapeType == "DeformedShape" } {
display 1 5 $dAmp; # display deformed shape
}