SteelConverter and Caltech VirtualShaker: Rapid Nonlinear Cloud-Based Structural Model Conversion and Analysis

STEEL, the Caltech created nonlinear large displacement analysis software, is currently used by a large number of researchers at Caltech. However, due to its complexity and lack of visualization tools rapid creation and analysis of models using this software was difficult. SteelConverter was created as a means to facilitate model creation through the use of the industry standard finite element solver ETABS; allowing users to create models in ETABS and intelligently convert model information into a format that STEEL understands.;While SteelConverter did help researchers at Caltech improve their research, sending SteelConverter and its documentation to other universities was less than ideal. Through the creation of a centralized website all of the major concerns associated with the utilization of SteelConverter were eliminated. The creation of this website not only allowed for more rapid distribution of this tool, but also created a means for engineers and researchers with no access to powerful computer clusters to run computationally intensive analyses without the excessive cost of building and maintaining a computer cluster.;In order to increase confidence in the use of STEEL as an analysis system, as well as verify the conversion tools, a series of comparisons were done between STEEL and ETABS and PERFORM. Seven models of increasing complexity were analyzed to determine the ability of STEEL to accurately calculate basic model through a free vibration analysis as well as a pushover analysis. These analyses showed a very strong agreement between the three softwares on every aspect of each analysis.