limitstates Documentation
limitstates is a python library that can represent and design structural elements according to code and material standards from various countries. Limit states has two main components: a set of classes that representations structural objects, e.g. A Ibeam that is 6m long made or steel; and design libraries that can act on elements and determine capacities, e.g. Canada’s CSA s16 steel material standard. Limitstates is currently incomplete and in public beta testing. Expect breaking changes before the first version release.
The following website documents all classes and functions the user can access in limitstates.
The units library is used to manage and convert between different unit systems. The objects library is used represent structural objects. The design library is used to determine the capacity of structural objects according to various building codes.
Install using:
pip -m install limitstates
Install with optional dependancies for opensees solver using:
A simple script is shown below:
"""
The following is a basic example showing how structural objects can be loaded
and acted on by design codes.
"""
# Import the base library, and the design library to be used
import limitstates as ls
import limitstates.design.csa.s16.c24 as s16
L = 6
Fy = 350
sectionName = 'W310x118'
# Define the material, in this case a code specific steel with Fy = 350 MPa
mat = s16.MaterialSteelCsa24(Fy, sUnit='MPa')
# Define a steel section from a database, in this case a cisc 12 w section.
steelSections = ls.getSteelSections(mat, 'csa', 'cisc_12', 'w')
section = ls.getByName(steelSections, sectionName)
# make a member, in this case a simplely supported beam 6m long beam.
member = ls.initSimplySupportedMember(L, 'm')
# Make a element, which the design library can act on.
beam = s16.BeamColumnSteelCsa24(member, section)
# Check capacity assuming it's laterally supported using CSA's s16 standard.
Mr = s16.checkBeamMrSupported(beam) / 1000
# Make a Plot of the Section.
fig, ax = ls.plotElementSection(beam, True)
Library Organization
There are four main parts of the limitstates library: units, objects, design, analysis.
The units library is a light-weight module for unit conversions. All structural objects in the limitstates libary are dependant on the unit library for conversions. See units: for more detail.
The objects library contains generic classes that represent and manipulate structural elements. Members of the object library are not specific to any code, for example a W530x150 cross section has the same geometry for American and Canadian codes. See objects: for more detail.
The design library contains specialized objects for a particular design code, and functions that act on them. For example, “BeamColumnSteelCsa24” is a code specific implementations of the generic “BeamColumn” class, and the function “checkBeamMrSupported”, acts on it to determine a sections unsupported moment. Design libraries are divided by country and material standard. Currently, content only exists for Canadian design codes. See design: for more detail.
The Analysis library will contain functions that act on structural objects to analyze them. The analysis Library is a work in progress.
Developed by
Christian Slotboom https://github.com/cslotboom/limitstates.