Force-Based Element Integration Options in OpenSees

Michael H. Scott

Numerical Integration Options for the Force-Based Beam-Column Element in OpenSees

Michael H. Scott January 26, 2011
A wide range of numerical integration options are available in OpenSees to represent distributed plasticity or non-prismatic section details in force-based beam-column elements, i.e., across the entire element domain [0, L]. For the Tcl interpreter of OpenSees, there is a specic input format for each integration option that follows a common input format for the element tag, nodes, and transformation tags. The general form of the forceBeamColumn command is: set integration <specific integration arguments> element forceBeamColumn $tag $ndI $ndJ $transfTag $integration tag unique integer that will identify the element ndI/ndJ integer tag for node I /J of the element transfTag integer tag for geometric transformation type of the element integration string indicating the type of numerical integration for the element and the specic integration arguments, as described in the remainder of this document. Note: the OpenSees Tcl interpreter performs a recursive parse of this string so that integration parameters can be stored in a Tcl string variable.

Integration Methods for Distributed Plasticity

Distributed plasticity methods permit yielding at any integration point along the element length. Gauss-Lobatto Integration Gauss-Lobatto integration is the most common approach for evaluating the response of forcebased elements [3] because it places an integration point at each end of the element, where
Associate Professor, School of Civil and Construction Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, michael.scott@oregonstate.edu

Force-Based Element Integration Options in OpenSees bending moments are largest in the absence of interior element loads.

Michael H. Scott

set integration Lobatto $secTag $N element forceBeamColumn $tag $ndI $ndJ $transfTag $integration Places N Gauss-Lobatto integration points along the element. The location and weight of each integration point are tabulated in references on numerical analysis [1]. The forcedeformation response at each integration point is dened by the section with tag secTag. The order of accuracy for Gauss-Lobatto integration is 2N-3. Gauss-Legendre Integration Gauss-Legendre integration is more accurate than Gauss-Lobatto; however, it is not common in force-based elements because there are no integration points at the element ends. set integration Legendre $secTag $N element forceBeamColumn $tag $ndI $ndJ $transfTag $integration Places N Gauss-Legendre integration points along the element. The location and weight of each integration point are tabulated in references on numerical analysis [1]. The forcedeformation response at each integration point is dened by the section with tag secTag. The order of accuracy for Gauss-Legendre integration is 2N-1. Gauss-Radau Integration Gauss-Radau integration is not common in force-based elements because it places an integration point at only one end of the element; however, it forms the basis for optimal plastic hinge integration methods. set integration Radau $secTag $N element forceBeamColumn $tag $ndI $ndJ $transfTag $integration Places N Gauss-Radau integration points along the element with a point constrained to be at ndI. The location and weight of each integration point are tabulated in references on numerical analysis [1]. The force-deformation response at each integration point is dened by the section with tag secTag. The order of accuracy for Gauss-Radau integration is 2N-2. Newton-Cotes Integration Newton-Cotes places integration points uniformly along the element, including a point at each end of the element. set integration NewtonCotes $secTag $N

Force-Based Element Integration Options in OpenSees

Michael H. Scott

element forceBeamColumn $tag $ndI $ndJ $transfTag $integration Places N Newton-Cotes integration points along the element. The weights for the uniformly spaced integration points are tabulated in references on numerical analysis [1]. The forcedeformation response at each integration point is dened by the section with tag secTag. The order of accuracy for Gauss-Radau integration is N-1. Fixed Location Integration This option allows user-specied locations of the integration points. The associated integration weights are computed by the method of undetermined coecients (Vandermonde system). N 1 1 j 1 wi = xj 1 dx = xi (j = 1 , . . . , N ) (1) j 0 i=1 Note that Newton-Cotes integration is recovered when the integration point locations are equally spaced. set locations 0.0 0.2 0.5 0.8 1.0 set secTags 1 2 2 2 1 set integration FixedLocation $N $secTags $locations element forceBeamColumn $tag $ndI $ndJ $transfTag $integration Places N integration points along the element, whose locations are dened in a Tcl list locations on the natural domain [0, 1]. The force-deformation response at each integration point is dened by the sections with tags stored in the Tcl list secTags. Both the locations and secTags lists should be of length N. The order of accuracy for Fixed Location integration is N-1. Low Order Integration This option is a generalization of the Fixed Location and User Dened integration approaches and is useful for moving load analysis [2]. The locations of the integration points are userdened, while a selected number of weights are specied and the remaining weights are computed by the method of undetermined coecients.
Nf j 1 xf i wf i i=1

1 Nc j 1 x wci = j i=1 ci

(2)

Note that Fixed Location integration is recovered when Nc is zero. set locations 0.0 1.0 0.2 0.5 0.8 set weights 0.2 0.2 set secTags 1 1 2 2 2 3

Force-Based Element Integration Options in OpenSees

Michael H. Scott

set integration LowOrder $N $secTags $locations $weights element forceBeamColumn $tag $ndI $ndJ $transfTag $integration Places N integration points along the element, which are dened in the Tcl list locations on the natural domain [0, 1]. The force-deformation response at each integration point is dened by the section tags stored in the Tcl list secTags. Both the locations and secTags lists should be of length N. The weights at user-selected integration points are specied (on [0, 1]) in the weights list, which can be of length Nc equals 0 up to N. These specied weights are assigned to the rst Nc entries in the locations and secTags lists, respectively. The order of accuracy for Low Order integration is N-Nc-1. Note: Nc is determined from the length of the weights list. Accordingly, FixedLocation integration is recovered when weights is an empty list and UserDefined integration is recovered when the weights and locations lists are of equal length. Mid-Distance Integration This option allows user-specied locations of the integration points. The associated integration weights are determined from the midpoints between adjacent integration point locations. wi = (xi+1 xi1 )/2 for i = 2. . . N -1, w1 = (x1 + x2 )/2, and wN = 1 (xN 1 + xN )/2. set locations 0.1 0.2 0.5 0.8 0.9 set secTags 1 2 2 2 1 set integration MidDistance $N $secTags $locations element forceBeamColumn $tag $ndI $ndJ $transfTag $integration Places N integration points along the element, whose locations are dened in a Tcl list locations on the natural domain [0, 1]. The force-deformation response at each integration point is dened by the sections with tags stored in the Tcl list secTags. Both the locations and secTags lists should be of length N. This integration rule can only integrate constant functions exactly since the sum of the integration weights is one. For the locations shown above, the associated integration weights will be 0.15 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.15. User Dened Integration This option allows user-specied locations and weights of the integration points. set locations 0.1 0.3 0.5 0.7 0.9 set weights 0.2 0.15 0.3 0.15 0.2 set secTags 1 2 2 2 1 set integration UserDefined $N $secTags $locations $weights element forceBeamColumn $tag $ndI $ndJ $transfTag $integration

Force-Based Element Integration Options in OpenSees

Michael H. Scott

Places N integration points along the element, which are dened in the Tcl list locations on the natural domain [0, 1]. The weight of each integration point is dened in the Tcl list weights, also on the [0, 1] domain. The force-deformation response at each integration point is dened by the sections with tags stored in the Tcl list secTags. The locations, weights, and secTags lists should be of length N. In general, there is no accuracy for this approach to numerical integration.

Plastic Hinge Integration Methods

Plastic hinge integration methods conne material yielding to regions of the element of specied length while the remainder of the element is linear elastic. A summary of plastic hinge integration methods is found in [4]. Midpoint Hinge Integration Midpoint integration over each hinge region is the most accurate one-point integration rule; however, it does not place integration points at the element ends and there is a small integration error for linear curvature distributions along the element. set integration HingeMidpoint $secTagI $lpI $secTagJ $lpJ $secTagE element forceBeamColumn $tag $ndI $ndJ $transfTag $integration The plastic hinge length at end I (J) is equal to lpI (lpJ) and the associated forcedeformation response is dened by the section with tag secTagI (secTagJ). The forcedeformation response of the element interior is dened by the section with tag secTagE. Typically, the interior section is linear-elastic, but this is not necessary. Endpoint Hinge Integration Endpoint integration over each hinge region moves the integration points to the element ends; however, there is a large integration error for linear curvature distributions along the element. set integration HingeEndpoint $secTagI $lpI $secTagJ $lpJ $secTagE element forceBeamColumn $tag $ndI $ndJ $transfTag $integration The plastic hinge length at end I (J) is equal to lpI (lpJ) and the associated forcedeformation response is dened by the section with tag secTagI (secTagJ). The forcedeformation response of the element interior is dened by the section with tag secTagE. Typically, the interior section is linear-elastic, but this is not necessary. Radau Hinge Integration Two-point Gauss-Radau integration over each hinge region places an integration point at the element ends and at 2/3 the hinge length inside the element. This approach represents 5

Force-Based Element Integration Options in OpenSees

Michael H. Scott

linear curvature distributions exactly; however, the characteristic length for softening plastic hinges is not equal to the assumed palstic hinge length. set integration HingeRadauTwo $secTagI $lpI $secTagJ $lpJ $secTagE element forceBeamColumn $tag $ndI $ndJ $transfTag $integration The plastic hinge length at end I (J) is equal to lpI (lpJ) and the associated forcedeformation response is dened by the section with tag secTagI (secTagJ). The forcedeformation response of the element interior is dened by the section with tag secTagE. Typically, the interior section is linear-elastic, but this is not necessary. Modied Radau Hinge Integration Modied two-point Gauss-Radau integration over each hinge region places an integration point at the element ends and at 8/3 the hinge length inside the element. This approach represents linear curvature distributions exactly and the characteristic length for softening plastic hinges is equal to the assumed plastic hinge length. set integration HingeRadau $secTagI $lpI $secTagJ $lpJ $secTagE element forceBeamColumn $tag $ndI $ndJ $transfTag $integration The plastic hinge length at end I (J) is equal to lpI (lpJ) and the associated forcedeformation response is dened by the section with tag secTagI (secTagJ). The forcedeformation response of the element interior is dened by the section with tag secTagE. Typically, the interior section is linear-elastic, but this is not necessary.

Regularized Hinge Integration

If it is known a priori whether to use distributed plasticity integration for strain-hardening response or a plastic hinge method for strain-softening response, the regularized approach developed in [5] is suggested. set integration RegularizedHinge distType nIP? secTagI? lpI? zetaI? secTagJ? lpJ? zetaJ? secTagE? element forceBeamColumn $tag $ndI $ndJ $transfTag $integration The plastic hinge length at end I (J) is equal to lpI (lpJ) and the associated forcedeformation response is dened by the section with tag secTagI (secTagJ). The forcedeformation response of the element interior is dened by the section with tag secTagE. The distType argument is the underlying distributed plasticity integration approach, either Lobatto, Legendre, Radau, or NewtonCotes, with nIP integration points. The arguments zetaI and zetaJ indicate the distance inside the element ends (I and J , respectively) that additional integration points are located in order to enforce numerical consistency in 6

Force-Based Element Integration Options in OpenSees

Michael H. Scott

the case of strain-hardening response. Typical values for zetaI and zetaJ range from 0.1% to 1.0% of the element length. Further information on this nal group of arguments can be found in [5].

References
[1] M. Abramowitz and C. A. Stegun, editors. Handbook of Mathematical Functions with Formulas, Graphs, and Mathematical Tables. Dover, New York, NY, 9th edition, 1972. [2] A. Kidarsa, M. H. Scott, and C. C. Higgins. Analysis of moving loads using force-based nite elements. Finite Elements in Analysis and Design, 44(4):214224, 2008. [3] A. Neuenhofer and F. C. Filippou. Evaluation of nonlinear frame nite-element models. Journal of Structural Engineering, 123(7):958966, July 1997. [4] M. H. Scott and G. L. Fenves. Plastic hinge integration methods for force-based beamcolumn elements. Journal of Structural Engineering, 132(2):244252, February 2006. [5] M. H. Scott and O. M. Hamutcuoglu. Numerically consistent regularization of forcebased frame elements. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, 76(10):16121631, 2008.