PLOT

PLOT <keyword. . . >

3DEC generates perspective-view plots of the blocks being modeled. If the PLOT command
is given without any keywords, a 3D perspective view of the model will be displayed. Many
options are available that enable the user to plot calculated quantities such as velocities,
displacements or stresses. These plots can be viewed as filled solids, cross sections or wire-
frames. The user can rotate, translate, and magnify the model in screen mode. Commands to
manipulate the plots can be entered from an interactive menu selection (see Section 5 in the
User’s Guide), or by command line. The command-line option is useful in specifying
orientations, selecting ranges and sending series of plots to a hardcopy device.
The <Esc> key can be used to interrupt plot generation.
The plotting keywords are grouped into three categories:
1. plot view manipulation and settings;
2. plot items; and
3. plot switches.
Switch keywords modify (or enhance) the plot item; they are optional, but must follow the
plot item keyword that is to be modified. The plotting keywords are described separately for
each category.
1. Plot View Manipulation and Settings
above used with dip and dip direction to specify that the view is to be above the plane
below used with dip and dip direction to specify that the view is to be below the plane
bfill <of>
selects block fill mode for stress contour plotting; must be used in solid mode (not wire
frame).
bord <of> toggles screen menu to display hardcopy legend.
center = x y z
The location of one point in the model is positioned to lie in the center of the viewing plane.
The model is translated such that the position x, y, z (in problem units) is located at the center
of the screen. The default center is at the center of the model.
PLOT cmag
cmag <of>
plots vectors colored by magnitude. Most vector plots are plotted in perspective. Therefore,
the vector length does not indicate magnitude.
The vectors can be plotted in a color that is scaled by magnitude. If the density of zones is
fine, this will produce a plot similar to a contour plot. There are several additional switches
that control which magnitude is used for color scaling (cps1, cps2, cps3, cplas,
cmag,
cess, choek, cmohr, csmax, css, cvm, cvx, cvy, cvz, cdm, cdx, cdy, cdz
— see Plot Switches in Category 3, below). The default is cps1 for principal stresses.
color <keyword>
selects color control mode.
block colors by block.
cons colors by constitutive model.
freeze freezes current colors.
mat colors by material number.
reg colors by region.
dd a dip direction, in degrees, of a viewing plane through the model, given by the angle a,
where 0 ≤ a ≤ 360◦ measured clockwise from the positive z-axis. The viewing plane is
always oriented parallel with the terminal screen. The model is rotated by the dip angle dip
and dip direction dd in order to align the viewing plane with the screen.
(Default is a = 180◦.)
dip a dip, in degrees, of a viewing plane through the model (i.e., the angle of the plane below
the y = 0 plane, 0 ≤ a ≤ 90◦). The viewing plane is always oriented parallel with the
terminal screen. The model is rotated by the dip angle dip and dip direction dd in order to
align the viewing plane with the screen. (Default is a = 0◦.)
dscale v
sets the value of the maximum length of arrowto v (in problem units) for displacement vector
plots (old style — see max switch).
file fn
temporary output filename (for hardcopy plots)
PLOT hold
hold This keyword is used in PLOT commands placed in CALL files.
It causes the program to pause with the graphic displayed until
<Enter> is pressed. The hold keyword should appear at the end of the command line.
The hold keyword inhibits the automatic frame saving mode of movies. If MOVIE is on
when the hold keyword is used, a movie frame will not be added to the movie unless <F9>
is pressed.
magnify <n><keyword>
magnifies or diminishes the size of the plot by factor n.
naxis <of>
toggles axis label from XYZ to NEU.
noms <of>
hides the construction lines between joined blocks. (This command is experimental and may
not work in all cases.)
origin x y z
The location of one point in the model is positioned to lie in the center of the viewing plane.
The model is translated such that the position x, y, z (in problem units) is located at the center
of the screen. The default center is at the center of the model.
pen routes screen plot to one of two locations:
(1) a PostScript-compatible laser printer, HP7470A or plotter; or (2) a disk file in PostScript
or HPGL. PostScript or HPGL files can be sent to a compatible printer directly (using DOS’
COPY or PRINT command).
The SET command is used to define the printer/plotter type for plot routing. The following
two commands must be given (unless the default selection is made) before using the PLOT
pen command: (a) SET output filename, where filename is either the disk filename
to be created for diversion to a disk file, or the output port (com1, com2 or lpt1) to
which the printer or plotter is connected (default filename = lpt1). (b) SET plot device,
where device = hp (HP7470A plotter), hpgl (HPGL graphics file) or post (PostScript
laser printer) (default device = post).

PLOT pen
To route a plot, type COPY or PLOT pen keyword . . . , where the keyword defines the
plot type. The keyword pen must appear immediately after the PLOT command.
pers <of>
turns off perspective plotting. This can solve a problem that occurs when hidden blocks peek
through the center of a large thin block that is oriented parallel to the plane of the screen.
Perspective plotting is on by default.
pscript n
is the same as PLOT pen, but allows the user to increase the number of horizontal scan
lines to improve hidden surface rendering for hardcopy plots. n is an integer multiple of
current screen vertical resolution (the default value of n is 2).
reset resets all plot items, view orientation, scaling and the default values.
sscale v
sets the value of the maximum length of stress magnitude to v (in problem units) for principal
stress and planar traction plots (alternatively, use max switch, following PLOT keywords).
vscale v
sets the value of the maximum length of arrowto v (in problem units) for velocity vector plots
(old style — see max switch).
zavg <of>
sets zone averaging flag for contouring.
zeye v
sets eye position.
zol <of>
sets plotting of zone outlines (default = of).
zone <of>
plots zones in cross-section plot. NOTE: This only works in conjunction with contour plots.

PLOT
2. Plot Items
aforce <of>
axial local reinforcement force vectors in wire frame mode
aperture fluid flow joint apertures
axes <of>
displays x,y,z-axis orientation on plot. (Also see naxis.)
beam <of>
locations of beam elements
bolt <of>
locations of axial local reinforcement in wire frame mode
cable <of>
cable bolts
cforce cable force vectors
disp <of>
displacement vectors
dxf <keywords. . . >
DXF-format files from AutoCad can be superimposed on 3DEC plots.
This allows the 3DEC model and results to be oriented to key or future geometric details that
have not been explicitly defined in 3DEC. The keywords may be in any order, and individual
parameters may be changed in subsequent PLOT or SET commands. All parameters may be
cleared by a RESET dxf, PLOT dxf reset or SET dxf reset command. It is
important to note that3DECuses a left-handed coordinate system. Positive-X points East,
positive-Y points up, and positive-Z points North. Because AutoCad files may have an
arbitrary axis definition,
the user must specify how to map AutoCad coordinates to 3DEC coordinates. The DXF
coordinates may also be scaled and offset. The order of scaling and translation are:
XNEW = (XOLD + XOFF) * XSCALE
YNEW = (YOLD + YOFF) * YSCALE
ZNEW = (ZOLD + ZOFF) * ZSCALE
PLOT dxf
The keywords are:
file filename
filename is the name of the dxf file; the file extension “.DXF” is required.
xof v
translation value for x-coordinate (applied after coordinate transposition)
xreplace v
replacement value for x-coordinate. It overwrites all DXF x-coordinates with this value.
xscale v
scaling factor for x-coordinate (applied after coordinate transposition and translation)
xyz AutoCad X –> 3DEC X
AutoCad Y –> 3DEC Y
AutoCad Z –> 3DEC Z
xzy AutoCad X –> 3DEC X
AutoCad Z –> 3DEC Y
AutoCad Y –> 3DEC Z
yof v
translation value for y-coordinate (applied after coordinate transposition)
yreplace v
replacement value for y-coordinate. It overwrites all DXF y-coordinates with this value.
yscale v
scaling factor for y-coordinate (applied after coordinate transposition and translation)
PLOT dxf yxz
yxz AutoCad Y –> 3DEC X
AutoCad X –> 3DEC Y
AutoCad Z –> 3DEC Z
yzx AutoCad Y –> 3DEC X
AutoCad Z –> 3DEC Y
AutoCad X –> 3DEC Z
zof v
translation value for z-coordinate (applied after coordinate transposition)
zreplace v
replacement value for z-coordinate. It overwrites all DXF z-coordinates with this value.
zscale v
scaling factor for z-coordinate (applied after coordinate transposition and translation)
zxy AutoCad Z –> 3DEC X
AutoCad X –> 3DEC Y
AutoCad Y –> 3DEC Z
zyx AutoCad Z –> 3DEC X
AutoCad Y –> 3DEC Y
AutoCad X –> 3DEC Z
excavation <of>
shows excavated and removed blocks rather than solid blocks.
flowrate fluid flow discharge vectors
flowvel fluid flow velocity vectors
fplane fluid flow plane structure
grid <of>
grid used for calculating contours (will only work in conjunction with contour plots)
PLOT head
head generates contour plot of hydraulic head on flow planes; requires a datum to be set via
the SET datum command. This keyword also requires gravity to be specified in the
vertical (y) direction.
history n1<n2. . . >
The time history of variables n1, n2. . . are plotted (where the variable numbers are set by the
HISTORY command).
The following supplemental keywords may be used to modify history plots to achieve more
meaningful presentation. The following supplements may be used after the history
keyword.
vs n
plots history n on the x-axis (n assigned by HISTORY command). (default for x-axis is
problem time) <cycle> plots history vs. number of cycles.
xrev reverses sign of history plotted to the x-axis.
yrev reverses sign of history plotted to the y-axis.
jcons <of>
contact constitutive types. It is best used when displaying a single joint (using the joint
keyword) face to face contours are displayed as diamonds. Other contact types are displayed
as arrows pointing to the contact location. Color is scaled to constitutive number.
jmat <of>
contact material types and contact types. It is best used when displaying a single joint, using
the joint keyword. If all joints are visible, the plot can be confusing. Face-to-face contacts
are displayed as diamonds. Other contact types are arrows pointing from the block centroid to
the contact location. Color is scaled to material number. (A maximum of 6 colors is
differentiated.)
jndisp <of>
joint normal displacement contours (used with the joint or jplane keywords)
PLOT jndisp
jnormal <of>
joint normal displacement vectors. Deformable blocks must be used for this option to work in
cross-section view.
jnstress <of>
joint normal stress contour (used with the joint keyword)
joint <n1. . . nn>
joint structure. The user may specify joints to plot. Contours of joint normal and shear
displacement and stress may be plotted on the joint surface. Octahedral symbols indicate
location(s) of face subcontacts.
This is an alternative to the jplane plots which contain data for contacts that fall into a thin
slice in space.
jplane <of>
slipping contacts on joint planes within etol of cut-plane. A joint plane must exist at the
location defined by dip, dd and center to plot a joint plane. Diamond symbols are plotted
at the location of the contacts. A red diamond indicates joint slip, and a blue diamond
indicates joint opening. Note: the contact locations are at gridpoint locations for deformable
blocks.
This keyword must be last on the input line.
jsdisp <of>
joint shear displacement contours (used with the joint keyword)
jshear <of>
joint shear displacement vectors. Deformable blocks must be used for this option to work in
cross-section view.
jslip <of>
plots circles at contact points to indicate joint slip.
jsstress <of>
joint shear stress contours (used with the joint keyword)
label <of>
Labels defined with the LABEL command are displayed on the plot.
PLOT liner
liner tunnel liner. Only available for liner option (see Section 3 in Optional Features).
overlay user-defined lines. This command allows line segments to be stored in a datafile to
be superimposed on a 3DEC plot. Each line of text in the file should contain the x, y and z
coordinates for a single point on a line. Lines will be drawn continuously, connecting all
points. A line containing a comment (;) will trigger a new line segment. The filename used for
the input file is specified by SET overlay filename. The default filename is
“OVERLAY.TXT.”
pgrid plots active pgrid planes (see PGRID command).
plas zone plasticity indicators
ppressure fluid flow fracture pore pressures
princ <of>
principal stress vectors
region n
specified region only
scalar <of><tol v>
user-defined scalars (see the SCALAR command). tol defines the thickness of the plot
region for cross-section plots (default = 0.0).
sint contour of intermediate principal stress
smax contour of major principal stress
smin contour of minor principal stress
stereo <range> keyword. . .
generates an equal-angle lower-hemisphere stereonet plot. The keywords are:
fcone friction cones for face-to-face contacts. Only friction cones for contacts in specified
range are plotted. If no range is specified, all cones are included.
PLOT stereo joint
joint <n1, n2, . . . n10>
poles of all (or selected) joint surfaces. Up to 10 individual joint ID numbers may be
specified. Joints are defined as face-to-face contacts between blocks. Only poles for contacts
in the specified range are plotted. If no range is specified, all poles are plotted. Poles for
contacts between master-slave blocks are not plotted.
s1 projection of the major (most compressive) principal stress orientation. Only stresses in
zones in the specified range are included. If no range is specified, all
zones are included.
s2 projection of the intermediate principal stress orientation. Only stresses in zones in the
specified range are included. If no range is specified, all zones are
included.
s3 projection of the minor (least-compressive) principal stress orientation. Only stresses in
zones in the specified range are included. If no range is specified, all
zones are included.
sxx contour of stress in the x-direction
sxy contour of shear stress in the xy-plane
sxz contour of shear stress in the xz-plane
syy contour of stress in the y-direction
syz contour of shear stress in the yz-plane
szz contour of stress in the z-direction
table n1 <n2. . . >
line plot of table n1
temp contour of temperature
tensor <of>
user-defined tensors (see the TENSOR command)
traction planar tractions
transmis transmissivity contour on flow planes
PLOT unstable
unstable <of>
blocks marked as region 999 in solid mode and excavated blocks in wire frame
vector <of>
user-defined vectors (see the VECTOR command)
velocity velocity vectors
vmagnitude contour of velocity magnitudes
wire <of>
wire-frame plot of the model
xboundary boundary condition applied to gridpoints in x-direction
xdis contours of x-displacement
xsec <of>
two-dimensional cross section through the model in the viewing plane defined by the
keywords dip, dd and center.
xvel contours of x-velocity
yboundary boundary condition applied to gridpoints in y-direction
ydis contours of y-displacement
yvel contours of y-velocity
zboundary boundary condition applied to gridpoints in z-direction
zdis contours of z-displacement
zvel contours of z-velocity
PLOT
Plot Item Notes:
Vector Plots
Principal stress, traction, velocity and displacement vector plots have been designed so that
the vectors are plotted in a color that reflects their magnitude. Since the length of a vector is
affected by the perspective and by orientation of observation, it is necessary to use color to
distinguish magnitude. This also allows plotting of areas with small zones in a way that
simulates filled contour plots. The advantages of these plots over actual contour plots are
speed of generation and ability to accurately represent a discontinuous stress field. The color
by magnitude option may be switched off in the menus. The user may also select which
quantity to use for the color scaling (e.g., major principal stress, minor principal stress,
plasticity indicator) via a command line switch (see the Plot Switches in Category 3 below) or
via the color by menu option. Color scaling can be controlled by the min, max, and int
switches. A maximum of six color intervals is allowed. The color used for plotting values
outside the minimum and maximum limits is set by the SET oorc command. Setting the
“out of range color” to black causes vectors with values above or below the specified range to
be invisible. The default “out of range color” is white. The length of the vectors can be
modified by the sscale, vscale, and dscale switches.
On cross-section plots, displayed vectors are projections onto the view plane. The maximum
value printed in the menu is the absolute maximum (not the projected value).
Contour Plots
Contouring of stress, displacement and velocity values is available for fully deformable
blocks. Shear and normal stress and displacement contouring is available for contacts.
Plotting of Contours within the Solid
The fact that 3DEC is a three-dimensional discontinuum code presents difficulties in
generating useful contours of the zone stresses. Contouring implies an expectation of
continuous change in some value in space. In 3DEC, stresses can change in a discontinuous
manner, thereby creating non-smooth contours. Another problem is that the view plane cuts
through the finite difference zones at different distances from the centroids (where the stress is
valid). Depending on the shape and size of the zoning, this may adversely affect the plots.
Due to these difficulties, it is recommended that principal stress vector plots, colored by
magnitude, be used as an alternative to the standard contour plots.
PLOT
The stress contouring uses a grid placed over the cross-section plot. At each node of the grid,
a weighted average is calculated from stresses in zones intersected by the viewing plane. The
weighting function is 1/distance2. The weighting may be changed by the SET npower
command. The grid can also be changed by the SET npx and SET npy commands.
Averaging is used because the stresses are contoured on a plane which intersects a zone but
does not coincide with the center, where the stress is calculated. The averaging technique may
not show fine detail in stress changes.
This averaging method is the default for zone stress contours plotted in 3DEC.
The second technique involves projection of zone stresses within each cut block to the cut-
plane. This technique is faster than the stress-averaging technique and is better at showing
discontinuities in the stress field than the overall stress environment. The projection technique
is selected by turning off zone averaging either in the stress menu or via zavg of in the
command line. This technique may result in contours which are coarser looking due to
discontinuities of the stress field from one block to the next. This technique may also fail to
produce a usable plot in some cases where there are too few zones in the blocks to calculate a
reasonable stress gradient.
A third technique of stress contouring, referred to as block fill, is available in 3DEC.
Using the block fill method, the code calculates the intersection of the viewing plane and the
finite difference zones. The polygon formed by this intersection is painted with the value of
the stress being plotted from the zone intersected. There is no stress average or projection
calculation performed when this technique is used. Block fill contours may be selected from
the stress menu or by the bfill keyword.
In all cases, translation and magnification of the contour area are done without recalculation
of the contouring data. The contour data will be recalculated anytime the cut-plane is moved,
rotated, or when a new contour is selected.
Plotting of Contours on Discontinuities Two different ways of contouring contact data are
available. The first technique is used to contour data from contacts which lie close to the view
plane. This is accessed via the PLOT jplane command or by selecting cons near xsect
from the Joint menu. The thickness of the search band is controlled by the SET etol
command.
The second technique is to contour data from contacts which have a common jointplane ID
number. This is accessed via the PLOT joint command or by selecting “joint structure”
from the Joint menu. The second method is useful for contouring contact data on specific
geologic features such as faults. This contour may be rotated since the plane being contoured
is not defined by the view plane. It may also be plotted at the same time as an excavation plot
(see the excavation keyword).
Minimum and maximum contours and contour intervals can be selected from the command
line (for example, PLOT syy min=-1e7 max=0 int=1e6). The selected contour
limits will remain in effect until a new contour type is selected or the plot switch auto is
used. The contours will appear as line contours in wire-frame mode and as filled contours in
solid mode. In all cases (except when contouring on joints by ID number), cross-section mode
must be selected.
3. Plot Switches
If no further parameters are given, scale factors will be chosen automatically. However, any
keyword may be followed by any number of “switches” (which are themselves keywords that
set certain characteristics of the plot). Each switch operates on the plot item keyword that
precedes it. The switches can be used to control scaling of vectors, contour interval and
contour limits.
auto uses automatic contour and vector scaling (resets user-specified values).
black sets color of vector plots to black (overrides color by magnitude).
blue sets color of vector plots to blue (overrides color by magnitude).
brown sets color of vector plots to brown (overrides color by magnitude).
ccomp colors principal stresses by compression or tension.
cdm uses scalar magnitude for color by magnitude for displacement vectors.
cdx uses x-magnitude for color by magnitude for displacement vectors.
cdy uses y-magnitude for color by magnitude for displacement vectors.
cdz uses z-magnitude for color by magnitude for displacement vectors.
cess colors traction plots by magnitude of excess shear stress (i.e., the difference between
actual shear stress at a point on the plane and the Mohr-Coulomb shear strength defined by the
friction cohesion and tension, which is set by SET pltphi and SET pltcoh).
choek colors principal stresses by Hoek-Brown failure criterion based on
SET hbm, hbs, plttens and ucs parameters.
cmag colors traction plots by total magnitude of shear plus normal stress vectors.
cmohr colors principal stresses by Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion based on
SET pltphi, pltcoh, and plttens parameters.
cplas uses plastic state for coloring principal stresses.
cps1 uses maximum principal stress (most-negative in compression) for color by
magnitude of principal stresses.
PLOT cps2
cps2 uses intermediate principal stress for color by magnitude of principal stress.
cps3 uses minimum principal stress for color by magnitude of principal stress.
csmax uses greatest shear stress for color by magnitude of principal stress.
css colors traction plots by magnitude of shear stress component.
cvm uses scalar magnitude for color by magnitude for velocity vectors.
cvx uses x-magnitude for color by magnitude for velocity vectors.
cvy uses y-magnitude for color by magnitude for velocity vectors.
cvz uses z-magnitude for color by magnitude for velocity vectors.
cyan sets color of vector plots to cyan (overrides color by magnitude).
fillcolor color <. . . color>
sets colors for contour plots (i.e., red green will grade from red to green.
green sets color of vector plots to green (overrides color by magnitude).
interval v sets interval for contour plots and color by magnitude plots.
magenta sets color of vector plots to magenta (overrides color by magnitude).
max v
sets maximum contour value, value for vector scaling, and maximum value for color by
magnitude plots.
min v
sets minimum contour value and minimum value for color by magnitude plots.
red sets color of vector plots to red (overrides color by magnitude).
slip Colors principal stress vectors based on whether Mohr-Coulomb slip is possible
(determined from current view-plane orientation, stresses and strength parameters set with the
SET pltphi and SET pltcoh commands).
PLOT usertol
usertol v
sets thickness of zone that will trigger plotting of user-defined scalars, vectors, and tensors
while in cross-section mode (default = 2).
white sets color of vector plots to white (overrides color by magnitude).