Seismosoft | Earthquake Engineering Solutions

Hi,

Is there any API (Application Programming Interface) facility in Seismostruct? I have to run more than 5000 analyses with random input parameters. Is it possible to run Seismostruct from Excel or matlab with separate input parameters each time and get the output back in Excel or matlab?

Dear g_swarup,

The SeismoBatch facility is available in SeismoStruct in order to facilitate the automatic execution of numerous analyses in sequence. Also, the option of simultaneously executing multiple analyses has been introduced in SeismoBatch 2016 in order to take full advantage of multi-core processors.

O.K, I'll check that. Thanks a lot for the quick reply.

Dear z.gronti,

I've gone through the SeismoBatch facility in SeismoStruct. It can run numerous analyses sequentially and give the output in desired format. However, it seems that for input I have to create several .spf files and put them in the same directory from where SeismoStruct will call them. My problem is, in simulation based fragility, say if I have 5000 samples of random input parameters (e.g. E of steel and concrete. yield strength, damping etc) I have to input them 5000 times in SeismoStruct and save the .spf files in the same directory. In Monte Carlo Simulation, the no. of random samples may be as big as 30000. If I attempt to input them manually in SeismoStruct it'll be a huge time consuming job. Also the .spf file cannot be edited in text editors like Notepad or Wordpad. Is there any way such that SeismoStruct will read the input in loop from an external file (.txt or .xlsx) and run the analysis or I can call SeismoStruct.exe from an external application (e.g. Excel VBA, Matlab, c++, Python etc.) ? Another alternative will be if I can create or edit .spf file from those external programming languages or can open in any text editor. Is any of the options available? I found SeismoStruct very useful especially in my area of research (Performance Based Earthquake Engineering) but unfortunately stuck at the above mentioned problem. Please help.

Dear g_swarup,

We are already aware of the need for the automatic derivation of hundereds or thousands of SPF files.
We are currently working on such facility, which will be GUI-based and will nto require the writing of scripts and programming skills,and it will be available in 2-3 months time.

Seismosoft Support

Good morning,

Is the tool referred in the copied post above already available in the SeismoStruct 2016 version?

"Dear g_swarup,

We are already aware of the need for the automatic derivation of hundereds or thousands of SPF files.
We are currently working on such facility, which will be GUI-based and will nto require the writing of scripts and programming skills,and it will be available in 2-3 months time.

Seismosoft Support"

Thanks in advance,
Luís M P Matos

Hello lmpmatos,
Initially there was a plan to publish the facility as an independent application. However, this was revised and the facility will be published with the upcoming SeismoStruct 2018 release next Autumn. Until then, unfortunately the only way to derive spf files is by saving them from the SeismoStruct GUI.

Regards,
Seismosoft Support

Hi,

is there a way to create a script input rather than using SPF File creator?

Unfortunately not, because the SPF file is in binary format.
However, by copying and pasting the values that you want changed in Excel, you will be able to create a large number of custom files very quickly (much faster with respect to creating a script). These files can then be run with SeismoBatch
Seismosoft Support

Good morning,

I've been following up this post, and I would like to know if there is available API tool in Seismostruct to create different inputs for time-history analysis and different parameter settings.

Matías Cortés-Camus