Free OpenSees and OpenSeesPy Crash Course for Beginners

About Course:

Course Description

This free OpenSeesPy crash course provides a concise and practical introduction to structural modeling and analysis using OpenSeesPy, the Python interface to the OpenSees finite element framework.

The course is designed for students, researchers, and structural engineers who want to become familiar with the basic OpenSeesPy workflow and start developing structural models in Python.

Through practical engineering examples, the course covers the essential steps involved in model definition, analysis, visualization, and post-processing. You will learn how to define nodes, elements, sections, loads, and boundary conditions; perform elastic and nonlinear analyses; extract structural response quantities; and automate analysis and visualization procedures using Python.

The course begins with a simple elastic cantilever beam and progresses to the nonlinear modeling of a steel frame and the implementation of a pushover analysis.

No previous experience with OpenSees or OpenSeesPy is required.

What You Will Learn

By the end of this crash course, you will be familiar with:

• The basic structure of an OpenSeesPy model
• Nodes, degrees of freedom, constraints, loads, and elements
• Unit systems and coordinate conventions
• Elastic structural modeling
• Nonlinear fiber-section modeling
• forceBeamColumn elements
• Static structural analysis
• Pushover analysis
• Displacement-control procedures
• Convergence strategies for nonlinear analysis
• Automated loading procedures
• Structural model visualization
• Response extraction and post-processing
• Plotting structural response curves using Python

Course Structure

The course is organized into three progressive chapters, moving from basic OpenSeesPy concepts to nonlinear structural analysis.

Chapter 1: Introduction and Installation

This chapter introduces the OpenSees and OpenSeesPy environments, fundamental modeling concepts, and the tools required to begin structural analysis using Python.

Topics Covered

• Introduction to OpenSees and OpenSeesPy
• Strengths and limitations of OpenSeesPy
• Micro-modeling and macro-modeling approaches
• Comparison with commercial software such as ETABS and ABAQUS
• Unit systems in OpenSeesPy
• Global coordinate systems and modeling conventions
• Installing OpenSeesPy using Anaconda
• Installing and setting up the required Python libraries

Chapter 2: Elastic Beam Modeling

This chapter presents a complete OpenSeesPy modeling workflow using an elastic cantilever beam as the introductory example.

The example demonstrates the fundamental sequence of defining the structural model, applying constraints and loads, configuring the analysis, extracting results, and visualizing the model.

Topics Covered

• Creating an OpenSeesPy model
• Defining nodes and degrees of freedom
• Applying boundary conditions
• Defining elastic beam-column elements
• Applying nodal and distributed loads
• Configuring the analysis procedure
• Running the structural analysis
• Extracting response quantities
• Visualizing OpenSeesPy models using:
  • vfo — Visual For OpenSees
  • opsvis — OpenSees Visualization

Chapter 3: Nonlinear Steel Frame and Pushover Analysis

The final chapter introduces nonlinear structural modeling through a steel frame example and demonstrates the implementation of a pushover analysis in OpenSeesPy.

The chapter also introduces Python-based procedures for nonlinear analysis automation, convergence management, response recording, and post-processing.

Topics Covered

• Modeling a steel frame in OpenSeesPy
• Applying concentrated and distributed loads
• Understanding local and global element axes
• Defining nonlinear fiber sections
• Modeling structural members using forceBeamColumn elements
• Defining nonlinear analysis parameters
• Configuring displacement-controlled pushover analysis
• Managing convergence during nonlinear analysis
• Automating incremental and cyclic loading procedures
• Recording structural response quantities
• Post-processing analysis results
• Plotting pushover curves using Python

Included Course Resources

All examples presented in the course are accompanied by downloadable Python files so that you can reproduce, modify, and extend the analyses independently.

Included Resources

• Complete Python scripts for all course examples
• Ready-to-run OpenSeesPy models
• Elastic cantilever beam example
• Nonlinear steel frame model
• Pushover analysis scripts
• Automated analysis procedures
• Model visualization scripts
• Post-processing and plotting scripts

Who Is This Course For?

This crash course is intended for:

• Civil and structural engineering students
• Graduate and postgraduate researchers
• Earthquake engineering students and researchers
• Structural engineers interested in nonlinear analysis
• Researchers starting to work with OpenSees or OpenSeesPy
• Engineers interested in Python-based structural analysis

Why Take This Course?

Completely Free

The full crash course and all accompanying analysis codes are available at no cost.

Beginner Friendly

The course starts with the fundamental concepts required to define and analyze an OpenSeesPy structural model.

Practical Structural Engineering Examples

The course focuses on real modeling and analysis workflows rather than presenting OpenSeesPy commands in isolation.

Elastic and Nonlinear Analysis

The examples progress from a simple elastic model to nonlinear fiber-section modeling and pushover analysis.

Python-Based Workflow

The course demonstrates how Python can be used for structural modeling, analysis automation, visualization, and post-processing.

Reusable OpenSeesPy Codes

All example scripts are provided so that they can be used as a reference or starting point for future academic and engineering applications.

Prerequisites

No previous experience with OpenSees or OpenSeesPy is required.

A basic understanding of structural analysis is helpful, but the OpenSeesPy modeling workflow is introduced from the beginning.

Previous Python experience is also not required. The Python commands needed to follow the examples are introduced throughout the course.

Start Learning OpenSeesPy

This free crash course provides a practical starting point for learning the essential concepts and workflows of OpenSeesPy for structural analysis, including model development, elastic and nonlinear analysis, visualization, and post-processing.