Just a quick update on those projects I have ongoing this term.
The Open Sees bridge-modelling has been going well, with its expected stops and starts associated with learning a new (open-source) program in addition to getting to know the project. There is minimal theoretical learning on thsi project because so far it has been very similar to SAP2000 or ETABS: build a model. It's a stick model of the bridge with all of the area, inertia, and modulus of elasticity parameters stuffed in. I had a bit of a struggle getting the dynamic analysis to work since the static model was very simple to implement. Open Sees wiki has saved me multiple times and its examples are what I have used as a starting block (specifically Example 8). Now that the dynamic nonlinear analysis is working when each span is one member, I am trying to discretize the beams such that they are broken into 1ft (it is in imperial) segments. Having a bit of trouble making it behave, but I am sure it has to do with my syntax, nodal generation or something.
The Abaqus model. It took quite a while for me to actually get Abaqus on my laptop (2 weeks I think, but considering I started early that's not too bad). At the moment I have a soil block with a simple reinforced concrete stick-model of a frame. On the other I have a sinusoidal load being applied at a frequency that should be within the seismic range. The soil does not have any special spring constants in it yet but just the modulus of elasticity. I divided the block (10m cube) such that the upper 1m of the soil has the finest mesh and between 1m and 4m down has a medium-sized mesh. I am to be testing the mechanical vibration frequencies (20 - 60 Hz), but this paper, Simulating the dynamic response of a soil-pile system using Abaqus, gave an equation for a seismic load and I will therefore try this out first. I find debuggin in Abaqus head and shoulders above Open Sees, but that is to be expected with proprietary versus open-source software. I ran this simulation with seemingly no errors for about 30 minutes on my laptop, I went to get a coffee, and my computer had gone to sleep, so unfortunately it did not complete. I will be trying it again tomorrow.
On the university application side, on October 5th (right after coming back from New Orleans), I successfully completed my Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERCC) master's scholarships. I was very grateful to Dr. Sriram Narasimhan for guiding me in writing my research topic and to Dr. Robert Gracie and Dr. Scott Walbridge for their references.
Now that the funding is done, time to get onto actual university applications. So UW is a given that I will apply, but their deadline is at the end of the first quarter in 2012 so I have a while yet. The first two I started with are University of California at Berkeley since I've heard such great things about their structural department from multiple professors. Their application process is by far the most intimidating and the most involved, perhaps not the best one to start off when my nerves are concerned. A big essay for the statement of interest in graduate work at UC Berkeley, and a personal statement highlighting how we're an examplary leader or battled adversity. I'm almost all done and I have my first drafts of my essays. The second university on the chronological list is the University of British Columbia. After my visit to campus in September, I'd be excited to work there for the sake of enthousiastic professors and a great atmosphere. This application for UBC was much more relaxed, maybe it's the Canadian influence. Lastly, the one I just started tonight is the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Somewhere in between UC Berkley and UBC, the application does not seem to be too bad. I've heard great things about UofM, their structural dynamics people, and Ann Arbor in general. I hear they have a decent swing dance scene too (judging by Pirate Swing and KISS ME in Ann Arbor).
Anyways, that's my engineering update.
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