1. Installation

All SimCenter applications can be downloaded from the SimCenter Research Tools page. This section walks you through the install process, from downloading the application to testing that it has been installed correctly.

1.1. Download HydroUQ

To download the HydroUQ app, navigate to the HydroUQ download page which should resemble Fig. 1.1.1. The download page contains a list of downloadable files and directories.

HydroUQ tool download page

Fig. 1.1.1 HydroUQ tool download page.

1.2. Install on Windows 10

On the HydroUQ download page, click on the file with a name ending with Windows_Download.zip to download the HydroUQ app. In the pop-up window, click on the Download button in the bottom right corner. After the download is completed, extract the zip archive to a location in your filesystem.

We suggest placing the directory in the C:\SimCenter folder. Once here, you can create a shortcut to the application (Hydro_UQ.exe) and move this shortcut to your Desktop.

Once the installation procedure has been completed, it is a good practice to run some basic checks. Navigate to the location where you placed the application and open it by running the Hydro_UQ.exe executable. You should see the user interface shown in Fig. 1.2.1.

Note

SimCenter apps are code-signed and notarized, but because they are not downloaded from the operating system’s app store, they may not be recognized as such. Consequently, depending on your security settings, when you start a SimCenter app for the first time, your operating system may bring up a dialog box indicating it is unsafe. If this dialog should appear, hit the cancel button. Restart the app by right-clicking on it and selecting open.

HydroUQ tool on startup in Windows 10

Fig. 1.2.1 HydroUQ tool on startup in Windows 10

1.3. Install on macOS 10

1.3.1. Install Python 3.8

The Mac comes with Python pre-installed, but the default Python is the outdated version 2.7. Since January 1st, 2020, no new bug reports, fixes, or changes have been made to Python 2, and Python 2 is officially no longer supported. SimCenter tools require Python 3.8.

If you have not yet installed Python, we recommend installing Python 3.8 from Python.org, using the macOS 64-bit installer. The installer will place a python3 executable in your PATH.

Warning

The latest version of Python is 3.9.1. Specific Python modules required by SimCenter applications fail under Python 3.9 in the pip install process detailed below. If you already have Python 3.9, we recommend installing a Python 3.8 as well that you will use only for the SimCenter applications.

Note

  1. We use the python.org installation over others due to its simplicity of installation.

  2. The current Python installer leaves two script files in the Python directory at the end of the installation. You need to execute both script files to get Python set up correctly to be invoked from the terminal. To run the files, double-click on them. The two files, shown in the image below, are: Update Shell Profile.command.sh and Install CertificateCommand.sh.

Python: Folder Displayed at Conclusion of Install

Fig. 1.3.1.1 Python: Folder Displayed at Conclusion of Install

Once Python is installed, you need to extend it by installing a few additional packages. We created a nheri_simcenter Python package that automatically installs all other dependencies to facilitate this phase of the installation. Start a Terminal window and type the following command:

pip3 install nheri_simcenter --upgrade

Note

You can use the spotlight app (magnifying glass at the top right corner of the Desktop) to start a Terminal window. Start the spotlight app and type in the terminal. The Terminal application should appear as the top hit.

Make sure you see a message that confirms the successful installation of the nheri-simcenter package before proceeding to the next step.

Note

If you forget to invoke the UpdateShellProfile.command.sh script at the end of the install, you can always edit the correct shell file later to update the PATH variable to point to the Python application.

On Linux systems, the shell is the program that takes commands from the keyboard that you enter in the terminal window and passes them to the operating system to perform by invoking applications and passing data between applications. It was the only interface available to the user in the good old days, i.e., there was no such thing as Finder! Several shell programs can be installed and made available to you. The most popular is the bash shell. The up-and-coming one is the Z shell. Power MacOS users will write shell scripts to do many useful things. By default, the applications that the shell program will invoke are limited to applications in a few specific directories defined in the users PATH. Users can modify this path by editing files that the shell program will read from every time the program is started.

When the front-end application runs the computations, it runs a back-end application using the shell program. As a consequence, the shell program must be made aware of the locations of some of the external applications. These include OpenSees, and Dakota that you have installed. Other applications, like Tcl provide scripts that you invoke to do it. In short, you have to edit the file appropriate to the shell you are using.

To find which shell program you are using when you issue commands inside the terminal window, type the following:

env | grep SHELL

If the result is /bin/bash, you will need to edit the .bashrc file or the bash_profile file. If the result is /bin/zsh, you will need to edit the .zshrc or .zprofile. Typically, the .bash_profile or the .zprofile file is the one to edit as by design these will invoke the .bashrc or .zshrc file. If in doubt, look for these files in your home directory and see which other installers have modified them.

Click on the file with a name ending with Mac_Download.dmg to download the HydroUQ app. In the pop-up window, click on the Download button in the bottom right corner. After the download has been completed, open the .dmg file and copy the Hydro-UQ application to a location in your filesystem.

Note

We suggest copying the application to your Desktop. After copying the application, you can move the dmg file to the trash or eject it.

Once the installation procedure has been completed, it is a good practice to run some basic checks. Navigate to the location where you placed the application and open it by running the Hydro_UQ application. You should see the user interface shown in Fig. 1.3.1.2.

HydroUQ tool on startup in the mac OS.

Fig. 1.3.1.2 HydroUQ tool on startup in the mac OS.

1.4. Testing

The installation can be tested by running the test problem, which is provided with the installation.

Note

When the HydroUQ app is running, open the File/Preferences and ensure that python3 appears under External Applications:Python. If you used older versions of SimCenter tools, this was not the default.