Situation: I'm running dynamic (earthquake) analysis for tall buildings. Floor slabs are modeled as elastic shell elements with a nonuniform distribution of nodes (ie not a perfect grid). Because of the limitations of the analysis software, I only have access to the initial coordinates, time history of nodal displacements and the shell properties.
What I would like to do is process this data in MATLAB to make a strain field, and eventually a stress field of the slab, for in-plane (membrane) actions. And then, if I can get that working, I would try to make a little program that I can draw section cuts to determine forces.
Does anyone know of any good references to do this initial step of creating a strain field from discrete displacement data? Ideally, something that explains it in a computational way, rather than theoretical/math notation.
What I would like to do is process this data in MATLAB to make a strain field, and eventually a stress field of the slab, for in-plane (membrane) actions. And then, if I can get that working, I would try to make a little program that I can draw section cuts to determine forces.
Does anyone know of any good references to do this initial step of creating a strain field from discrete displacement data? Ideally, something that explains it in a computational way, rather than theoretical/math notation.