OpenSees Cloud
OpenSees AMI
Minimal Working Example
Original Post - 01 Jul 2021 - Michael H. Scott
Visit Structural Analysis Is Simple on Substack.
When people post online or e-mail me about what could be a bug in OpenSees, I’ll ask for a minimal working example (MWE), i.e., a simple script that reproduces the problem. I don’t want to deal with elaborate scripts–yours or mine.
So, what does an MWE look like for OpenSees? Here’s a non-exhaustive list of OpenSees MWE characteristics:
- One file, either
.tclor.py, containing the entire model and analysis - As few Tcl or Python constructs as possible
- One element, two at most
- One ground motion file (if required)
- As few analysis steps as possible
Like OpenSees itself, the simpler the better for an MWE.
Going through the process of creating an MWE is sometimes enough to resolve the issue. Often, a “bug” is actually a scripting or input error. I would like to believe that’s why I don’t always receive an MWE when I ask for one.