VIRTUAL STRUCTUAL DYNAMICS LABORATORY

Abstract

Earthquake problems in India need no introduction. From recent earthquakes, it is very well understood that lack of awareness is one of the contributing factors for huge casualty losses. In order to increase the awareness about the effects of earthquakes among professionals involved in construction, it is necessary to make them understand the concepts of structural dynamics and earthquake engineering. To address this issue, we have developed a software tool named Virtual Structural Dynamics Laboratory. Using this tool, a person with some knowledge of structural engineering can be able to learn by himself the fundamentals of structural dynamics. For convenience in explaining the concepts, we divided this tool into four modules. Each module contains few experiments with good G.U.I. In these experiments, user can find the explanation with graphical diagram. At the end of fourth module user can understand the dynamic behavior of the structure. This software tool aims to help students, architects and civil engineers in understanding the principles of structural dynamics.