About SeismoBuild

SeismoBuild is a Finite Element package for structural assessment, capable of carrying out all the Code defined checks, taking into account both geometric nonlinearities and material inelasticity.

Important features

Some of the more important features of SeismoBuild are summarised in what follow:

General

  • International System of Units (SI) and Imperial Units supported
  • European and American reinforcing rebar types
  • support for Eurocodes, ASCE (American Code for Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Existing Buildings), NTC-18 (Italian National Seismic Code), KANEPE (Greek Seismic Interventions Code) and TBDY (Turkish Seismic Evaluation Building Code)

Building Modeller

  • easy CAD-based input; the floor's plan view can be used as background
  • predefined built-in cross sections for both existing and strengthened (jacketed) members (rectangular, L-shaped, T-shaped, circular, shear walls, normal or inverted T-beams)
  • very fast input of the longitudinal and transverse rebars through reinforcement patterns
  • graphical input of additional rebars at any location
  • predefined material sets for existing and new members; multiple material sets may be applied to the same model
  • easy modelling of strengthening with Fibre-Reinforced Polymers (FRP) wraps; a large library of existing FRP materials is available
  • easy modelling of strengthening with reinforced concrete jackets
  • simple input with a few mouse clicks for columns, slabs, beams and walls
  • simple insertion of stairs
  • easy modelling of inclined beams and slabs
  • easy modelling of infills and steel braces
  • automatic column subdivision to model short columns
  • advanced editing, copying and member renumbering facilities
  • snap, grid and ortho facilities

Codes and Standards

  • straightforward definition of code-based parameters
  • simple input of limit states, building performance levels, earthquake hazard levels and knowledge levels
  • easy definition of the parameters needed for the nonlinear analysis, with a range of predefined settings schemes and detailed guidelines with suggestions by the program

Structural Modelling, Analysis and Checks

  • after the model input is completed, the structural model is automatically created by the program (material models, nodes, FE mesh, elements, offsets, mass distribution and loading patterns)
  • geometric nonlinearities and material inelasticity are considered
  • large library of nonlinear models for concrete and steel materials
  • fibre-based inelastic frame elements
  • distributed plasticity models to accurately model the distribution of inelasticity along the entire height of large walls
  • eigenvalue, linear static, linear dynamic, pushover and dynamic analyses supported
  • SeismoStruct's advanced, accurate and stable nonlinear solver is employed
  • automatic calculation of the target displacement
  • numerical stability and accuracy at very high strain levels. Smart subdivision of the loading increment, whenever convergence problems arise.
  • detailed and intuitive presentation of the analytical results; tables, charts and 3D plots are available
  • 3D plots with the deformed shapes; AVI movies to illustrate the sequence of structural deformation
  • all the code-defined capacity checks are supported (shear capacity, chord rotation capacity, bending moment capacity, inter-storey drift level, beam-column joints checks)
  • checks presented on a table and on the 3D plot; the members where the capacity is exceeded are highlighted with red

Deliverables

  • detailed technical report in PDF, RTF or HTML format; the content (text, plots and tables) and the size of the report are determined by the users
  • CAD drawings with plan views, members' cross sections and reinforcement tables; specially created *.ctb files are included
  • easy copying of all the data, tables and plots to any other Windows application