Hyperomet: An OpenSees interface for nonlinear analysis of unreinforced masonry buildings

Abstract

Seismic vulnerability assessment of historical unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings is crucial for the authorities due to the high susceptibility of historical URM buildings to earthquakes. Open system for earthquake engineering simulation (OpenSees) is a well-known, powerful, and versatile seismic analysis platform. In a lack of a free graphical user interface (GUI) for seismic analysis of URM buildings, Hyperomet was designed to bridge the gap between nonlinear analysis of URM buildings and OpenSees platform. The Hyperomet GUI includes an accurate enough macroelement representing the nonlinear behavior of URM components. The structures can be modeled based on the double-modified multiple vertical line element model (DM-MVLEM) and the Unified method (UM) using the GUI. Calculators for deriving the mechanical properties are provided to minimize the modeling time. Furthermore, the ability to perform various analysis types including incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) is facilitated.