Answer : ALADDIN Version 2.1 is a computational toolkit for the matrix and finite element analysis of engineering structures. In ALADDIN, finite element analsis is viewed as a specialized matrix computation, matrices are viewed as rectangular arrays, and numbers are viewed as dimensionless physical quantities.
Answer : ALADDIN has been tested on a SUN SPARCstation, DECstation 5000, and IBM RS/6000. A number of users report that the program works fine under Linux, although we have not personally verified this platform. Sorry, a Windows version is not yet available.
Answer : The Aladdin source code file that you will download over the Internet aladdin2.1.tar.gz is a compressed tar file. To uncompress the file on UNIX and Linux systems, type gunzip aladdin2.1.tar.gz This will give you the file aladdin.tar. To extract the directories and source code files, type tar xf aladdin2.1.tar The result will be a new directory called "aladdin2.d" containing the ALADDIN source code. You will need to compile the program before it can be run -- see question 4. Note : If you have downloaded ALADDIN to a PC or Macintosh, then this procedure won't work. Sorry.
Answer : All of the commands to compile ALADDIN are located in the file called "Makefile" To compile the program, simply type make aladdin The makefile will compile all of the C source code files into object files, and generate a single executable program file called ALADDIN. You can remove the object codes by typing make clean This will free-up some of your disk space.
Answer : The command syntax is ALADDIN -k After the ALADDIN prompt has appeared, commmands may be entered. For example: unix pompt % ALADDIN -k ALADDIN >> ALADDIN >> velocity = 3 cm/sec; ALADDIN >> time = 3 sec; ALADDIN >> print "Distance traveled = ", velocity*time, "\n"; Distance traveled = 0.09 m ALADDIN >> quit; Don't forget to terminate each command with a semi-colon (;). Further information on commands may be found in the web pages. Because most people cannot type without making some errors, we recommend that keyboard input be used only for the simplest problems. For the solution of engineering problems we recommend that you prepare an input file, and use the command syntax in the next question.
Answer : The command syntax is ALADDIN -f name-of-input-file
Answer : The command syntax is ALADDIN -f name-of-input-file >! name-of-output-file The syntax ">!" redirects the program output to a file named "name-of-output-file" If "name-of-output-file" already exists, then the new stream of output will clobber the contents of the old file.
Answer : The directory "test-files.d" contains an ensemble of input files for sample matrix and finite element problems.
Answer : Give a command of the type: ALADDIN -f test-files.d/name-of-input-file
Answer : TestSuite is a C-shell script that systematically runs ALADDIN for all of the input files in test-files.d. The input and output file names are matched as follows ALADDIN -f input-name >! output-name Where "name" is the remainder of the input file name beyond the prefix input-. A list of command options can be obtained by typing "TestSuite help"
Answer : A collection of test problems is located on the Web at http://www.ence.umd.edu Also try http://www.isr.umd.edu/~austin/aladdin.html
Answer : Yes. Postscript versions of the technical report(s) may be downloaded from http://www.isr.umd.edu/~austin/aladdin.html
Answer : Unfortunately, at this time (April 1998), no. Technical report TR 95-74 contains a detailed discussion on the design of ALADDIN, together with matrix and finite element examples, as of November 1995. Wane-Jang's Ph.D. dissertation contains a description of the new features in Aladdin 2 for nonlinear finite element analysis of highway bridge structures. We have recently (i.e., during the first 3 months of 1998) converted some of these examples to a web format and linked them to the Aladdin web site. During the past 18 months we have been expanding the suite of application problems presented on this web site.
Answer : Send e-mail to austin@isr.umd.edu, and we will do our best to fix it ...
Answer : ALADDIN Version 2.1 is the property of Mark Austin, Xiaoguang Chen and Wane-Jang Lin. Permission is granted to use, modify, and distribute the software freely, subject to the conditions stated in the file entitled "COPYRIGHT"
Answer : As of March 2000 only a few graduate students at the University of Maryland have access to the source code to Aladdin 3.0.
Developed in April 1996 by Mark Austin
Last Modified March 11, 2000
Copyright © 1996-2000, Mark Austin,
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Maryland