quoFEM — The Complete Guide: Uncertainty Quantification Around Finite Element Models
quoFEM is an open-source desktop application (BSD-3-Clause licence) from NHERI SimCenter. It wraps an existing finite element model — for example an OpenSees model or a Python script — and runs uncertainty analyses on it. The question it answers: how sensitive is my result to my assumptions?
quoFEM
NHERI SimCenter
Uncertainty quantification around finite element models — sensitivity, Monte Carlo, Bayesian calibration and surrogates.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Sensitivity analysis — which parameters affect the result most.
- Monte Carlo sampling — the distribution of the result from the input distributions.
- Bayesian calibration — fitting parameters to measurements.
- Surrogate models — a fast model that replaces heavy runs.
- Graphical interface — setting up the analysis without writing all the code.
Where it runs
You can run the analyses on your local computer, with no registration. For heavy problems you can run on DesignSafe’s remote computing resources — that needs an account and a computing allocation. The tool suits researchers and engineers who already have a working model and want to understand how reliable it is.
Related tools
For an uncertainty and reliability library in Python — OpenTURNS. For another optimisation and uncertainty toolkit — Dakota. For the structural model itself — OpenSees.
OpenTURNS
OpenTURNS consortium
A Python and C++ library for uncertainty treatment — probabilistic modelling, reliability, sensitivity and metamodels for engineering risk.
Get it from the vendor
Dakota
Sandia National Laboratories
A Sandia toolkit for optimisation, parameter studies, sensitivity analysis and uncertainty quantification around any simulation code.
Get it from the vendor
OpenSees
Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center, UC Berkeley
Nonlinear and dynamic structural analysis driven by scripts, from the earthquake engineering world.
Get it from the vendorOpenQuake Engine
GEM Foundation
Seismic hazard and risk calculations — PSHA, earthquake scenarios and damage and loss estimates, from the GEM Foundation.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
quoFEM adds an important question to a deterministic model: how far can you trust it. It is free, open and convenient for anyone working with OpenSees or Python.