Tutorial 02 Materials and Loading
Tutorial 02 Materials and Loading
Tutorial 02 Materials and Loading
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This tutorial will demonstrate how to model a more complex multimaterial slope, with both pore water pressure and an external load. MODEL FEATURES: multiple material slope, with weak layer pore pressure defined by water table uniformly distributed external load circular slip surface search (Grid Search)
The finished product of this tutorial can be found in the Tutorial 02 Materials and Loading.slim data file. All tutorial files installed with Slide 6.0 can be accessed by selecting File > Recent Folders > Tutorials Folder from the Slide main menu.
Model
If you have not already done so, run the Slide Model program by doubleclicking on the Slide icon in your installation folder. Or from the Start menu, select Programs Rocscience Slide 6.0 Slide. If the Slide application window is not already maximized, maximize it now, so that the full screen is available for viewing the model.
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Project Settings
Although we do not need to set any Project Settings for this tutorial, lets briefly examine the Project Settings dialog.
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Entering Boundaries
The first boundary that must be defined for every Slide model is the External Boundary (see the Quick Start Tutorial for a definition of the External Boundary in Slide). To add the External Boundary, select Add External Boundary from the toolbar or the Boundaries menu.
Note that entering c after the last vertex has been entered, automatically connects the first and last vertices (closes the boundary), and exits the Add External Boundary option.
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The first material boundary has been added. Now add a second material boundary.
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This dialog allows you to assign the Water Table to the materials in your model, by selecting the checkbox for the desired materials. The Water Table must be assigned to materials, so that the program knows how pore pressure is to be calculated for each material. By default, when you add a Water Table, all checkboxes in the dialog are selected. This is sufficient for our purposes, so just select OK. The Water Table will be added to the model, and automatically assigned to all materials in the model. As you can see, we have added a Water Table coincident with the ground surface at the foot of the slope, and slightly below ground surface towards the crest. NOTE: The assigning of the Water Table to materials, can also be done in the Define Material Properties dialog. The Assign Water Table dialog is simply a convenient shortcut which allows you to assign the Water Table to all materials at once, rather than individually with the Define Material Properties dialog. IMPORTANT NOTE: the Water Table MUST BE DEFINED ACROSS ALL MATERIALS for which pore pressure is to be calculated using the Water Table. If it is not, then the analysis will not be able to calculate the pore pressure for slip surfaces where the Water Table is not defined, and a safety factor will NOT BE CALCULATED. Therefore, always make sure that the Water Table spans all applicable material zones of the model, or the slope will not be analyzed where the Water Table is undefined.
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Enter a Magnitude = 50 kN/m2. Leave all other parameters at their default settings. Select OK. Now as you move the cursor, you will see a small red cross which follows the cursor and snaps to the nearest point on the nearest boundary. You may enter the location of the load graphically, by clicking the left mouse button when the red cross is at the desired starting and ending points of the distributed load. However, to enter exact coordinates, it is easier in this case to enter the coordinates in the prompt line.
Enter first point on boundary [esc=quit]: 70 40 Enter second point on boundary [esc=quit]: 80 40
The distributed load will be added to the model after you enter the second point. The distributed load is represented by red arrows pointing normal (downwards, in this case) to the External Boundary, between the two points you entered. The load magnitude is also displayed.
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Slip Surfaces
For this tutorial, we will be performing a circular surface Grid Search, to attempt to locate the critical slip surface (i.e. the slip surface with the lowest safety factor). A Grid Search requires a grid of slip centers to be defined. We will use the Auto Grid option, which automatically locates a grid for the user.
Enter an interval spacing of 20 x 20. Select OK. The Grid will be added to the model, and your screen should appear as follows:
Figure 2-3: Water table, external load and grid added to model.
NOTE: slip center grids, and the circular surface Grid Search, are discussed in more detail in the Quick Start Tutorial. Please refer to that tutorial, or the Slide Help system, for more information.
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Properties
Its time to define our material properties. Select Define Materials from the toolbar or the Properties menu.
9 Enter: 9 Name = soil 1 9 Unit Weight = 19 Strength Type = Mohr-Coul 9 Cohesion = 28.5 9 Phi = 20 Water Surf. = Water Table Hu = 1
Enter the parameters shown above. Notice that the Water Surface = Water Table, because we already assigned the Water Table to all materials in the model, with the Assign Water Table dialog, when we created the Water Table. When all parameters are entered for the first material, select the second material, and enter the properties for the weak soil layer.
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9 Enter: 9 Name = weak layer 9 Unit Weight = 18.5 Strength Type = Mohr-Coul 9 Cohesion = 0 9 Phi = 10 Water Surf. = Water Table Hu = 1
Enter the properties, and select OK when finished. Note the following about the Water Parameters: Water Surface = Water Table means that the Water Table will be used for pore pressure calculations for the material.
For users unfamiliar with the Hu Value: In Slide, the Hu coefficient is defined as the factor by which the vertical distance to a water table (or piezo line) is multiplied to obtain the pressure head. It may range between 0 and 1. Hu = 1 would indicate hydrostatic conditions. Hu = 0 would indicate a dry soil, and intermediate values are used to simulate head loss due to seepage, as shown in the margin figure.
hp
H u = hp / d
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Assigning Properties
Since we have defined two materials, it will be necessary to assign properties to the correct regions of the model, using the Assign Properties option. Select Assign Properties from the toolbar or the Properties menu.
To assign properties to the weak layer will only take two mouse clicks: 1. Use the mouse to select the weak layer soil, in the Assign Properties dialog (notice that the material names are the names you entered in the Define Material Properties dialog). 2. Now place the cursor anywhere in the weak layer of the model (i.e. anywhere in the narrow region between the two material boundaries), and click the left mouse button. Thats it, properties are assigned. Notice that the weak layer zone now has the colour of the weak layer material. Close the Assign Properties dialog by selecting the X in the upper right corner of the dialog (or you can press the Escape key to close the dialog). We are now finished creating the model, and can proceed to run the analysis and interpret the results.
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Compute
Before you analyze your model, save it as a file called tutorial02.slim. (Slide model files have a .slim filename extension).
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Interpret
To view the results of the analysis:
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Now select the Minimum Surfaces option from the toolbar or the Data menu, in order to view the minimum surface calculated at each grid point in the slip center grid.
What is a Query?
A Query, in the Slide Interpret program, is simply a slip surface which has been selected with the Add Query option, for the purpose of viewing and plotting detailed analysis results along the slip surface (e.g. Base Normal Stress, Mobilized Shear Resistance, Pore Pressure, Interslice forces, etc). It is important to note that the Data Output option in Project Settings, determines which surfaces will be available for creating a Query:
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If Data Output = Standard, then a Query can only be created for the Global Minimum.
If Data Output = Standard, then detailed analysis data is saved in the Slide output file, for the Global Minimum surface ONLY. If Data Output = Maximum, then detailed analysis data is saved for the minimum surface at each grid point (for a circular surface Grid Search).
In this tutorial, we have used the default Data Output = Standard, and can therefore only create a Query for the Global Minimum surface. See the suggested exercises at the end of this tutorial, for a discussion of the Data Output = Maximum option.
Add Query
A Query can be created by selecting the Add Query option from the toolbar or the Query menu. This allows you to select any slip surface for which detailed analysis results are available. For the current example, detailed analysis results are only available for the Global Minimum slip surface, as discussed in the previous section. When it is only required to create a Query for the Global Minimum, there are several time-saving shortcuts available. For example: 1. Right-click the mouse anywhere on the Global Minimum slip surface. NOTE: you may click on the slip surface, or on the radial lines joining the slip center to the slip surface endpoints. 2. Select Add Query from the popup menu, and a Query will be created for the Global Minimum. 3. NOTE that the colour of the Global Minimum surface changes to black, to indicate that a query has been added. (Queries are displayed using black. The Global Minimum, before the query was added, was displayed in green. These colours can be customized in the Display Options dialog.) You will find this a useful and frequently used shortcut for adding a Query for the Global Minimum. Other shortcuts for adding and graphing Queries are described in the following sections.
TIP: a short-cut for adding a Query on the Global Minimum right-click on the Global Minimum, and select Add Query from the popup menu.
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Graph Query
The main reason for creating a Query, is to be able to graph detailed analysis results for the slip surface. This is done with the Graph Query option in the toolbar or the Query menu.
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Customizing a Graph
After a slice data graph has been created, many options are available to customize the graph data and appearance. Chart Properties Right-click the mouse on a graph, and select Chart Properties. The Chart Properties dialog allows you to change axis titles, minimum and maximum values, etc. This is left as an optional exercise for the user to explore. Change Plot Data Right-click the mouse on a graph, and select Change Plot Data. This will display the Graph Slice Data dialog (Figure 2-6), allowing you to plot different data if you wish, while still remaining in the same view. Grayscale Right-click the mouse and select Grayscale. The view will be grayscaled, suitable for black and white image capture. Grayscale is also available in the View menu, and can be toggled on or off at any time. Changing the analysis method After a graph is created, you can even change the analysis method. Simply select a method from the toolbar, and data corresponding to the method will be displayed. NOTE: Depending on the data being viewed, results may or may not vary with analysis method. For example, Slice Weight will NOT vary with analysis method. Base Normal Stress will vary with analysis method. Also, No Data may be displayed, if the minimum surface for the analysis method chosen, is different from the surface on which you originally added the query.
Close this graph, so that we can demonstrate a few more features of the Slide query menu.
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Show Slices
The Show Slices option is used to display the actual slices used in the analysis, on all existing queries in the current view.
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NOTE: the current Display Options can be saved as the program defaults, by selecting the Defaults button in the Display Options dialog, and then selecting Make current settings the default in the Defaults dialog.
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6. Select the roll-up 5 arrow in the upper right corner of the Slice Data dialog (do not select the X), and the dialog will roll-up (minimize without closing), allowing you to view the full screen. (NOTE: you can also double-click on the title bar of the dialog, to minimize / maximize the dialog). For example, after rolling-up and moving the Slice Data dialog out of the way, your screen may appear as follows:
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Deleting Queries
Queries can be deleted with the Delete Query option in the toolbar or the Query menu. A convenient short-cut for deleting an individual query, is to right-click on a query, and select Delete Query. For example: 1. Right-click on the Global Minimum query. (You can right-click anywhere on the slip surface, or on the radial lines joining the slip center to the slip surface endpoints). 2. Select Delete Query from the popup menu, and the query will be deleted. (The Global Minimum is now displayed in green once again, indicating that the query no longer exists).
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2. You will see the data plotted along the Global Minimum slip surface as shown in the following figure. The size of the bars represents the magnitude of the data on the base of each slice.
3. Choose different Slice Data types and observe the results. 4. Experiment with the various display options in the dialog and observe the results. 5. Choose Slice Data = None and close the dialog. NOTE: the Show Values Along Surface option is also available as a rightclick shortcut. If you right-click on the Global Minimum slip surface, or any other slip surface for which a Query has been created, the Show Values Along Surface option will be available in the popup menu. From the sub-menu you can directly choose a data type to plot, or access the Show Values dialog.
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This will create a plot of the factor of safety along the surface of the slope. The factor of safety values are obtained from each slip surface / slope intersection point.
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Use the Zoom options as necessary, to achieve the desired view of the slope, relative to the graph. (Tip: first select Zoom All. Then use Zoom Mouse, and Pan, if necessary, to zoom the slope to the same scale as the graph).
Additional Exercises
A safety factor graph, such as Figure 2-12, can be used to help refine a critical surface search, with the Define Slope Limits option, as suggested in the optional exercise below. 1. Return to the Slide Model program. 2. Use the Define Slope Limits dialog (see the Quick Start tutorial), to define two sets of Slope Limits, corresponding approximately to the low safety factor areas of the graph in Figure 2-12. 3. Re-run the analysis, and see if a lower safety factor Global Minimum surface has been located.
and compare results. Experiment with different search method parameters. See the Slide Help system for information about the search methods.
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1. Return to the Slide Model program, and set Data Output = Maximum in Project Settings. 2. Re-run the analysis. 3. In Slide Interpret, select Add Query from the toolbar or the menu. 4. Now hover the mouse (without clicking) over the slip center grid, or over the slip surfaces within the slope. As you move the mouse, notice that the nearest corresponding slip surface is highlighted. (Note: it is helpful to turn on the Minimum Surfaces option first, since these are all of the surfaces for which you can create a Query). 5. When a desired slip surface has been located, click the left mouse button, and a Query will be created for that surface. 6. You may repeat steps 3-5, to add any number of Queries for different slip surfaces. 7. When using the Graph Query option (selected from the toolbar or the menu), you may graph multiple Queries on the same plot, by simply selecting the desired queries with the mouse. NOTE: when Data Output = Maximum, the apparent compute speed will be significantly slower than when Data Output = Standard. Also, the size of the output files will be much larger, due to the large amount of data being stored. Depending on the number of slip surfaces you are analyzing, these differences can be very significant. Data Output = Maximum option should only be used when you wish to view detailed data for surfaces other than the Global Minimum. That concludes this tutorial. To exit the program:
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