problem with limitState material

[2015James]

hi
i am using the Limit State Material , the command is:
uniaxialMaterial LimitState $matTag $s1p $e1p $s2p $e2p $s3p $e3p $s1n $e1n $s2n $e2n $s3n $e3n $pinchX $pinchY the corresponding website is following: http://opensees.berkeley.edu/wiki/index ... e_Material

i am using the Limit State Material , but i do not know how to indentify the “force & deformation” point value， in another word how to indentify the values： $s1p $e1p $s2p $e2p $s3p $e3p $s1n $e1n $s2n $e2n $s3n $e3n

if i use the Shear Limit State Material to model a column, should i do a pushover analysis to indentify the “force & deformation” point values? if i use the Axial Limit State Material to model a column, should i apply a vertical axial force to indentify the “force & deformation” point values or some other ways?


Thank you.