A simple question

[KingGiorgione]

Hello everyone.
I have a simple question to ask yourself, how can I calculate the energy dissipated by all the structural elements in a dynamic time history analysis?
Is it possible with Seismostruct?
Thank you for your attention

[seismosoft]

e.g.: BaseShear x TopDisplacement

[alwaysway]

Would you please explain it more specifically? Plus, how can I get the hysteretic energy of a single beam or a column?
It appeared to me that in a transient analysis only integration could work this out.But I was wondering if there is a more direct way to do this in seismostruct?

[seismosoft]

Dear alwaysway,

As you know, the internal energy (or work) developed through structural deformation can be computed as the product between the said deformation and the corresponding internal force. Hence, if you wish to compute the hysteretic energy dissipated by a column, you may e.g. multiply the column's shear force by the column's transverse deformation.

Naturally, if you are carrying out a transient analysis, and wish to compute the cumulated energy dissipation, you should sum the energy dissipated at each analysis time-step, using e.g. a trapezoidal numerical integration rule.

Seismosoft Support