Importing Slide Files / SSR Analysis

Importing Slide Files / SSR Analysis 9-1
Importing Slide Files / SSR Analysis

Slide is a 2D limit equilibrium slope stability program produced by
Rocscience. Phase2 version 6 can import files written by version 5 of
Slide. This allows you to perform a finite element stress analysis and
slope stability analysis on a Slide model, using Phase2.
This tutorial will provide an overview of Slide file import and the Shear
Strength Reduction method in Phase2, and then demonstrate the
procedure with an example.
Topics Covered
• Importing a Slide file
• Slide options which are supported in Phase2
• Slide options which are not supported in Phase2
• Shear Strength Reduction (SSR) analysis
Importing a Slide Data File
To import a Slide data file (.sli file), there are two possible methods:
1. You can use the File > Import > Import Slide File option.
2. Or you can use the File > Open option and set the Files of Type to
Slide File Format (*.sli), as shown below.
Both methods provide identical functionality for importing Slide data

files into Phase2.
Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

After selecting the Slide data file that you wish to import, you will see a
dialog with options pertaining to how you wish to import the file.
In general, you will simply press OK, but there might be instances where
you wish to modify boundaries, customize the mesh, or not start by
running a Shear Strength Reduction (SSR) analysis to determine the
factor of safety of your slope. In which case, you can use this dialog to
customize how the Slide file is imported.
After the import, you might see a warning dialog such as:
Not all functionality in Slide is supported by Phase2. Certain material

and support models are not supported (see below). If a Slide model
contains unsupported functionality, a warning dialog is issued. In this
case, the user must change the material or support models to one
supported by Phase2. The method for defining material and support
models is very similar between Slide and Phase2, so the user should have
no problem changing the model.

Shear Strength Reduction Method
The Shear Strength Reduction (SSR) method is widely used to determine

the factor of safety of a slope using the finite-element method and is used
in Phase2 version 6. The method simply reduces the shear strength of the
material until the model becomes unstable. The point of instability is
taken as the factor of safety of the slope. It is not the purpose of this
document to describe the method. However, to understand the
applicability of the method, it is important to understand its advantages
and disadvantages.
Some of the advantages of the SSR method include: 1) you do not have to
define a failure surface or search for a minimum failure surface, how the
slope fails is a result of the SSR method 2) equations of equilibrium are
all satisfied, 3) strains and displacements in the soil and/or rock can be
calculated, 4) strains, displacements, axial force and moment
distributions in support can be calculated 5) progressive failure can be
modeled.
The disadvantages include: 1) Not as widely known or trusted as the

limit-equilibrium methods, 2) requires more data such as material
modulus, stiffness, plasticity parameters, in-situ stress, boundary
conditions etc. 3) Mesh generation and model setup can be difficult and
may require a high level of modeling expertise, 4) Limit equilibrium has
more material models and is numerically simpler, 5) Finite-element is
prone to convergence, tolerance, and numerical instability issues, 6) It is
much slower and compute time intensive.
Phase2 version 6 tries to remove a lot of the complexity of defining a

finite-element model by directly importing a Slide data file, automatically
meshing the model, automatically defining in-situ stress states, boundary
conditions and material models. Thus limiting the disadvantages talked
about above. In the majority of cases, little or no effort is required by the
user in order to run a SSR analysis. However, the user must still be
aware of what assumptions are made when setting up the finite-element
model for a SSR analysis and how the finite-element model is actually
created. Below is a description of how a Slide file is imported, along with
a description of the assumptions made and under what circumstances the
user might have to modify the model to accurately calculate the factor of
safety. It is important to note that the import of Slide files and the
automatic model setup is NOT fool-proof. In the majority of cases, the
user should only have to import the file and click compute, but be aware
that this might not always work.

How Slide Options are Imported into Phase2
The following is a listing of Slide version 5 features which are imported

into Phase2, and those features which are not currently imported into
Phase2.
Files written with a version of Slide prior to 5.0 are not supported but
may read correctly depending on what you are trying to model.
Slide Project Settings

Phase2 now supports Imperial English units and will properly read Slide
files with imperial units (pounds and feet). Other project settings such as
failure direction, method, tolerances etc. have no meaning in Phase2 and
are not read. The groundwater setting is read. Sensitivity and probability
settings are not read since Phase2 does not support these types of
analyses.
Groundwater
Phase2 supports the definition of pore pressures using piezometric lines,
Ru, water pressure grids, and integrated steady-state groundwater
seepage analysis. The properties and settings for all these techniques are
properly read from the Slide file during import.
Sensitivity and Probabilistic Analyses

Sensitivity and probabilistic analyses are currently NOT supported in
Phase2. Data pertaining to these analyses is not imported.
Boundaries
The Slide external boundary and material boundaries are all read into
Phase2. The water table is read into Phase2 but since Phase2 does not
support a specific water table entity, it is converted to a piezometric line
with id equal to 1. Piezometric lines are read directly into Phase2. Water
pressure grids are read into Phase2. Tension crack polylines are NOT
read into Phase2.
Tension Cracks
The explicit modeling of a tension crack region is not directly supported
in Phase2 since no facilities exist in the finite-element method for a zero
strength material with possible hydrostatic forces applied to the surface
of a tension crack. Consequently, how one models a tension crack zone
using a finite-element analysis is open to debate. One method that has
been used successfully (see Verification#27 in the Phase2 Slope Stability
Verification manual), is to represent the soil in the tension crack region
as a distributed load applied to the soil underlying the tension crack zone.
This works well for dry tension cracks but water filled tension cracks is
another issue.

Distributed and Line Loads

Distributed loads (uniform and triangular) and line loads are imported
into Phase2.
Pseudo-static Seismic Loads

Phase2 supports the import of pseudo-static seismic load coefficients from
Slide.
Material Properties
The following Slide material models are supported: 1) Mohr-Coulomb, 2)
Undrained (Constant), 3) Undrained F(datum), 4) Infinite Strength, 5)
Shear-Normal Function, 6) Hoek-Brown, 7) Generalized Hoek-Brown, 8)
Power Curve.
The following Slide material models are not supported: 1) Undrained

F(depth), 2) No Strength, 3) Anisotropic Strength, 4) Anisotropic
Function, 5) Vertical Stress Ratio, 6) Barton-Bandis, 7) Hyperbolic, 8)
Discrete Function, 9) Drained-Undrained.
The Shear-Normal function is supported by fitting a Generalized Hoek-

Brown envelope to the discrete data points.
The Power Curve function is supported by converting it to the

Generalized Hoek-Brown failure criterion.
The Anisotropic Strength and Anisotropic Function set the material type
to Mohr-Coulomb and set the strength as being the minimum of the
different directions. Anisotropy in strength is not supported in Phase2.
Support and Support Properties

Phase2 will read Slide support elements. All support elements in a Slide
file are read in as Phase2 bolt elements EXCEPT for geotextiles.
Geotextiles are read in as structural interface elements. Structural
interfaces have two components: 1) A structural beam element to model
the tensile behavior of the geotextile, 2) Two interface elements on either
side of the geotextile to model slip between the geotextile and the soil.
Active and passive force application methods for Slide support models
have no meaning in a Phase2 finite-element analysis, and are therefore
ignored. An equivalent behavior can be defined by setting a Pre-
Tensioning force in the Phase2 bolts.
Slide support models that are imported into Phase2 are: 1) End
Anchored, 2) Geotextiles, 3) Grouted Tieback, 4) Soil Nail.

Support models which are NOT imported: 1) Grouted Tieback (with

friction), 2) Micro-Pile.
End anchored or deadman anchors are read in as Phase2 end-anchored

bolts. Peak capacity of the Phase2 bolt is set to the Slide anchor capacity,
the residual capacity is set to zero. The bolt spacing is read from the Slide
file.
Geotextiles will convert to structural interfaces with Phase2 liner

elements being defined as geotextiles with a default tensile modulus and
a peak tensile capacity. The peak tensile capacity is read from the Slide
geotextile support properties. The residual tensile strength is set to zero.
The tensile modulus is given a default value equal to 100 times the
tensile strength. The user should define the appropriate tensile modulus
for the geogrid/geotextile they are using. See the online help for a
description of this parameter. If the Slide Shear Strength Model for the
geotextile-soil interface is linear, the Phase2 joint interface properties for
the structural interface are given a Mohr-Coulomb slip criterion with
cohesion and friction angle equal to the adhesion and friction angle
defined for the Slide geotextile. If the Slide Shear Strength Model for the
geotextile-soil interface is hyperbolic, the Phase2 joint interface
properties for the structural interface are given a Geosynthetic
Hyperbolic slip criterion with adhesion and friction angle equal to the
adhesion and friction angle defined for the Slide geotextile. Interface
normal and shear stiffnesses between the geotextile and the soil are also
required. Default values of Kn=100000KPa/m and Ks=10000KPa/m are
used. These are based on a number of published values and can be
changed in the Joint Properties dialog. Material dependant geotextile
properties are not read from the Slide file but can be manually defined in
Phase2. Slide anchorage methods are supported through the different
finite-element mesh end conditions of the structural interface. See the
online help for more information on these parameters. Strip coverage is
not supported for values other than 100%. You will have to factor the
interface and tensile strength properties to account for strip coverage.
Slide Grouted Tiebacks and Soil Nails are both converted to Phase2
tieback bolts. The only difference between the two is the grouted length.
Soil Nails have 100% grouted length. The Phase2 tieback peak tensile
capacity is taken as the minimum of the Slide plate capacity and tensile
capacity. The residual capacity is set to zero. The bolt spacing is read
from the support spacing in the Slide file. In the case of tiebacks, the
grouted length is properly read. For both Slide soil nails and grouted
tiebacks, the bond strength is properly read.

Slide Grouted Tiebacks with friction are not properly read into Phase2.
They are read as Phase2 tieback bolts but no bond capacity is defined.
The user must either define an equivalent bond capacity to the frictional
characteristics, thus accounting for the depth of the anchor, or use
structural interface elements instead. In the case of structural interface
elements, the debonded length of the bolt should be given different
material properties than the bonded length. In particular, the debonded
length should be given joint stiffness properties (normal and shear) equal
to zero. You will require a vertex on the structural interface to separate
the bonded from the debonded length.
Micro-piles are not supported in Phase2. Piles should be modeled using

structural interfaces or liner elements.
User-defined support properties in Slide are not supported in Phase2.
Mesh Generation
The complete finite-element mesh is automatically created during the
import of the Slide file. No user intervention is required. The mesh, by
default, will contain approximately 800 uniformly distributed 6 noded
triangular elements.
Boundary Conditions
The import facility automatically determines the top, bottom and sides of
the external boundary used in the Slide model. The boundary conditions
applied to these surfaces are: 1) the top boundary (ground surface) is free
to move in the x and y directions, 2) the sides are fixed in the x and y
directions (pinned), 3) the bottom surface is fixed in the x and y directions
(pinned). The following image shows a typical mesh and boundary
conditions after import of a Slide model.

Initial Stress and Body Force

By default, each finite-element is given both an initial stress and a body
force (self weight). The initial vertical stress is estimated from the
weight of the material above the element. Phase2 automatically
determines the ground surface above the element and automatically
determines the stress due to the material above the element. The
horizontal initial stress is set equal to the vertical stress (hydrostatic
stress state). The body force is equal to the unit weight defined for the
material in Slide. Since Phase2 allows for only one unit weight, when
reading a Slide file, the greater of the moist or saturated unit weight is
taken.
This system of element loading (the combination of initial stress and body
force) is defined in the material properties dialog by defining the Initial
Element Loading as being Field Stress & Body Force. Initial Element
Loading is one of the more complicated concepts in Phase2 and it is
highly recommended for people who do not understand it, to review the
online help on the subject.
Since the initial stress and body force does not define an equilibrium
state for a slope (or any non-horizontal ground surface), the material
within the slope will deform under the influence of its own self weight
and initial stress. In general, the material will deform horizontally away
from the slope surface since the initial horizontal stresses are not in
equilibrium. The final vertical stress distribution within the slope will be
a gravitational stress distribution while the horizontal stress will be due
to some unloading and redistribution of stress due to the poisson effect.
By default, all materials are given a poisson ratio of 0.4. If you know your
material’s poisson ratio, you may change the default value inside the
Phase2 material properties dialog.
Horizontal stress plays a very important role in the stability analysis. In

general, little is known about the horizontal stress distribution within a
soil or rock mass. So assuming that the material has an initial
hydrostatic stress state is not unreasonable. This is the assumption made
in a large number of the slope stability verification examples. Results
from these examples show good agreement with the Slide results. If
knowledge of the initial vertical and horizontal stress state is known, it
should be used in defining the initial stress state for the model.
Ponded Water
In Phase2, ponded water is replaced by an equivalent distributed load
(pressure) normal to the submerged portion of the external boundary. The
distributed load, which varies according to the submerged topology, is
defined using a series of “Ponded Water” loads which are oriented normal
to the external boundary. When importing a Slide file with ponded water,
Phase2 will automatically replace the ponded water by these ponded
water distributed loads.

Groundwater Finite-Element Analysis

Both Slide and Phase2 have integrated steady-state unsaturated
groundwater modeling capabilities. Thus Phase2 will read the hydraulic
properties (i.e. permeability, unsaturated hydraulic parameters),
boundary conditions, and finite-element mesh from the Slide data file. By
default, if a Slide model contains a groundwater mesh, Phase2 will use
this mesh for both stress and groundwater analysis and will not generate
a new mesh on import of the Slide file. The only exception to this rule is if
a distributed load exists in the Slide file as well. In this case, the mesh
must be created during import but the boundary conditions of the
groundwater mesh are preserved.

Slide File Import / Shear Strength Reduction Example
We will now give a quick demonstration of the Import Slide File option,
and the Shear Strength Reduction method in Phase2.
Import Slide File

1. In the Phase2 Model program, select File…Import…Import Slide.
2. Navigate to the Examples > Tutorials folder of your Phase2 6.0
installation folder.
3. You will find a Slide file named Tutorial 09 Slide File.sli. Open
this file.
4. You will see the Slide Import Options dialog. Just select OK in
this dialog (leave the default checkbox selections).
5. The file will be imported into Phase2 and you should see the
following model.
Slide file imported into Phase2
NOTE:
• This Slide file already included finite element groundwater

seepage analysis, therefore the existing groundwater mesh from
Slide was imported directly into Phase2.
• The groundwater boundary conditions in Slide defined ponded

water at the toe of the slope. As you can see in the above figure,
this has been converted into an equivalent distributed load (blue
arrows) in Phase2.
• As an optional exercise, you can compare the material properties

of this model in both Slide and Phase2. Open this file in Slide
(assuming you have the Slide program). Compare the Material
(strength and hydraulic) properties in Slide and Phase2. You will
find that the properties are the same.
• Note that the filename (in Phase2) now has a .FEZ filename
extension. This is the filename extension used for Phase2 files.

Compute (with Shear Strength Reduction)

This model does not need any modifications, and can be computed
immediately. If this model is computed in Phase2, the following
computations will be carried out:
1. The finite element groundwater seepage analysis will be run first,

to determine pore pressures (this will be virtually instantaneous,
you will not notice it).
2. Then the Phase2 stress analysis will be run, which will include
the pore pressures from the groundwater seepage analysis (also
very quick for this file).
3. Lastly, the Shear Strength Reduction slope stability analysis will

be computed. This will take some time (perhaps 5 to 10 minutes
or more, depending on the speed of your computer).
Shear Strength Reduction Analysis Results

Select the Interpret button in the Phase2 Model program, to view the
analysis results.
You should see the following:
Results of SSR analysis for imported Slide file.
Notice the following:

1. By default, after an SSR slope stability analysis has been

performed in Phase2, the Maximum Shear Strain contours will be
displayed. The Maximum Shear Strain contours highlight the
“failure” of the slope at the critical Strength Reduction Factor.
2. The critical SRF represents the Strength Reduction Factor at

which the slope becomes unstable (i.e. the stress analysis
approaches non-convergence).
3. You will notice that the Stage tabs at the bottom of the screen
indicate “SRF: (value)”. Each tab corresponds to ONE iteration of
the SSR analysis, using the indicated value of Strength Reduction
Factor.
4. By default, the tab with the critical Strength Reduction Factor

will be displayed initially. In this case, the critical SRF = 1.56.
(Note: this compares with a minimum safety factor slip circle in
Slide = 1.52, which is in good agreement).
5. By default after an SSR analysis in Phase2, only the SSR results

are displayed. If you wish to view the regular Phase2 analysis
results (i.e. the results of the stress analysis without applying the
Strength Reduction Factor), you must select Data…Stage
Settings (in Phase2 Interpret), and set the Reference Stage = 0
(Not Used). You will then see the results for all stages before the
SSR analysis (e.g. the Stage 1 tab) followed by the SSR tabs.

Graphing the Strength Reduction Factor

If you select Graph … Graph Shear Strength Reduction, you will see the
following graph.
This graph summarizes the essential results of the SSR analysis. The
Strength Reduction Factor is plotted against the Maximum Displacement
(at any point in the model). The critical Strength Reduction Factor
corresponds to the point at which the Maximum Displacement shows a
sudden increase (i.e. the model becomes unstable).
Importing Surfaces between Slide and Phase2

Before we conclude this quick introduction to SSR analysis with Phase2,
we will mention a useful feature common to both Slide and Phase2.
If you wish to compare a limit equilibrium slip surface (determined by

Slide) with the zone of Maximum Shear Strain contours (after the Phase2
SSR analysis), you can easily import surfaces (polylines) between Slide
and Phase2.
To import a surface from Slide to Phase2:
1. Run the model in Slide.
2. In the Slide Interpret program, right-click the mouse on the

critical slip circle/surface.
3. Select Copy (slide modeler format) from the right-click menu.
4. Now, in the Phase2 Interpret program, go to the Edit menu and

select Paste from Slide Interpret.
5. You will see the slip circle/surface from Slide Interpret, imported
into Phase2 Interpret. NOTE: the surface is imported as a
Polyline Drawing Tool entity.

If you carry out these steps for the current example model, you will see
the following:
Notice the critical slip circle (from Slide) corresponds approximately to

the zone of Maximum Shear Strain contours in Phase2.
A similar procedure can be used to import a drawing polyline from the

Phase2 Interpret program, into the Slide Model program. In the Slide
Model program, it can be imported as an actual slip surface, which allows
you to run a Slide analysis on a surface imported from Phase2.
That concludes this tutorial, for more examples of the Shear Strength
Reduction method, see the Phase2 Slope Stability Verification manual,
and the accompanying example files, which are installed with the Phase2
program.

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Importing Slide Files / SSR Analysis 9-1

Importing Slide Files / SSR Analysis

• Importing a Slide file

• Slide options which are supported in Phase2

• Slide options which are not supported in Phase2

• Shear Strength Reduction (SSR) analysis

Importing a Slide Data File

Both methods provide identical functionality for importing Slide data

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

Not all functionality in Slide is supported by Phase2. Certain material

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

Shear Strength Reduction Method

The Shear Strength Reduction (SSR) method is widely used to determine

The disadvantages include: 1) Not as widely known or trusted as the

Phase2 version 6 tries to remove a lot of the complexity of defining a

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

How Slide Options are Imported into Phase2

The following is a listing of Slide version 5 features which are imported

Slide Project Settings

Sensitivity and Probabilistic Analyses

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

Distributed and Line Loads

Pseudo-static Seismic Loads

The following Slide material models are not supported: 1) Undrained

The Shear-Normal function is supported by fitting a Generalized Hoek-

The Power Curve function is supported by converting it to the

Support and Support Properties

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

Support models which are NOT imported: 1) Grouted Tieback (with

End anchored or deadman anchors are read in as Phase2 end-anchored

Geotextiles will convert to structural interfaces with Phase2 liner

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

Micro-piles are not supported in Phase2. Piles should be modeled using

User-defined support properties in Slide are not supported in Phase2.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

Initial Stress and Body Force

Horizontal stress plays a very important role in the stability analysis. In

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

Groundwater Finite-Element Analysis

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

Slide File Import / Shear Strength Reduction Example

Import Slide File

Slide file imported into Phase2

• This Slide file already included finite element groundwater

• The groundwater boundary conditions in Slide defined ponded

• As an optional exercise, you can compare the material properties

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

Compute (with Shear Strength Reduction)

1. The finite element groundwater seepage analysis will be run first,

3. Lastly, the Shear Strength Reduction slope stability analysis will

Shear Strength Reduction Analysis Results

You should see the following:

Results of SSR analysis for imported Slide file.

Notice the following:

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

1. By default, after an SSR slope stability analysis has been

2. The critical SRF represents the Strength Reduction Factor at

4. By default, the tab with the critical Strength Reduction Factor