An Overview of the University of Toronto Simulation (UT-SIM) Framework and its Application to the Performance Assessment of Structures
Pedram Mortazavi1, Xu Huang2, Oh-Sung Kwon3, Constantin Christopoulos4
1 PhD Student, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto
35 St. George St., Toronto, Canada
pedram.mortazavi@mail.utoronto.ca
2 PhD Candidate, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto
xu.huang@mail.utoronto.ca
3 Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto
os.kwon@utoronto.ca
4 Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto
c.christopoulos@utoronto.ca
Abstract. The University of Toronto Simulation (UT-SIM) framework has been developed for multi-platform simulations and can be used in both advanced numerical and experimental-numerical multi-platform simulations for structural performance assessments. With the development of the standardized data exchange format and the communication protocol, the UT-SIM framework has enabled a wide range of structural analysis programs including but not limited to, OpenSees, ABAQUS, S-FRAME, etc., as integration modules, and OpenSees, ABAQUS, VecTor suite of programs, other generic console applications, etc., as substructure modules. The capabilities of the UT-SIM framework are further extended to utilize high performance computers (HPC) for performance assessment of large-scale and complex systems. In addition, several versions of an interface program for actuator controllers known as Network Interface for Controllers (NICON) are currently available within the UT-SIM framework that facilitate the implementation of pseudo-dynamic hybrid simulations in structural laboratories. The versatility of the UT-SIM framework, which is primarily due to the numerous capabilities of the structural analysis programs and finite element packages within the framework, has broaden its applications in both structural testing facilities as well as multi-platform numerical performance assessments of structural systems. This paper provides an overview of the UT-SIM framework and its capabilities. Selected simplified verification examples are provided to assist practitioners with the procedure for using the UT-SIM framework, including a simple example of pseudo-dynamic experimental-numerical hybrid simulation. In the end, selected research projects at the University of Toronto, which have used the UT-SIM framework, are briefly reviewed.
Keywords: Multi-Platform Simulations, Hybrid Simulation, Pseudo-Dynamic Experiment, Earthquake Engineering, Seismic Performance Assessment.
