Integrating OpenSees with other software - with application to coupling problems in civil engineering

Integration of finite element analysis (FEA) software into various software platforms is commonly used in coupling systems such as systems involving structural control, fluid-structure, windstructure, soil-structure interactions and substructure method in which FEA is used for simulating the structural responses. Integrating an FEA program into various other software platforms in an efficient and simple way is crucial for the development and performance of the entire coupling system. The lack of simplicity of the existing integration methods makes this integration difficult and therefore entails the motivation of this study. In this paper, a novel practical technique, namely CS technique, is presented for integrating a general FEA software framework OpenSees into other software platforms, e.g., Matlab-Simulink