Excavations cover a broad range of geotechnical engineering from building construction to open pit mining and can be the basis for a wide range of analyses. Common to all issues in this category are the release of insitu stresses when the soil or rock is unloaded. In addition, the presence of water in the ground or free water on the surface can greatly change the excavation behaviour from a seepage and stability perspective.
GeoStudio establishes insitu stresses and pore-water pressure conditions so that upon removal of the ground, rebound displacements can be computed. Steady state or transient pore-water flow systems can be simulated and incorporated into dewatering and stability evaluations. Detailed stress paths can be monitored during transient changes in pore-water pressure. In an advanced analysis, a slope failure in a pit can be accounted for as a result of a sudden collapse of unstable ground. A dynamic earthquake analysis assesses potential for generation of excess pore-water pressures in the ground or plastic deformation due to stress-redistribution.
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Negative pore water pressures may result from the unloading associated with excavations. GeoStudio can model the changes in pore water pressure following an excavation.
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Deep well systems may be used to prevent groundwater flow into excavations. GeoStudio can analyse the resulting 3D groundwater flow.
GeoStudio can simulate the behavior of deep shored excavations in soft ground. For example, GeoStudio can accurately model the 6 case histories presented in Halim and Wong’s paper in Underground Singapore (2005), where deflections of the shoring walls were measured during construction.
SLOPE/W can be used to model the stability of rock slopes using various strength models such as the Barton and Choubey (1977) and Miller (1988) for rock joints or the anisotropic function to model rock mass with linearly anisotropic strength.
The coupled stress and pore water pressure formulation available in SIGMA/W can be used to simulate time-dependent pore water pressure responses and deformations (i.e. swelling) following an excavation in stiff plastic clays.
SLOPE/W
Stability analysis of soil and rock slopes.
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SEEP/W + SEEP3D
Finite element analysis of groundwater flow in saturated / unsaturated porous media.
SIGMA/W
Finite element stress and deformation analysis of earth and structural materials.
QUAKE/W
Finite element analysis of earthquake liquefaction and dynamic loading.
TEMPW + TEMP3D
Finite element analysis of heat transfer and phase change in porous media.
BUILD3D
Geometry creation tool for complex 3D domains.