User-Specified Spatial Variability

A new feature in SVFlux™ Professional and SVSlope® Professional (part of SVOffice™ 2009)

September 29, 2011

One of the challenges in creating a useful numerical model is to accurately model the soil conditions. The most common way to to this in 2D is to divide up the ground into regions, where each region represents a particular material with a set of parameters. For non-homogenous materials, the spatial variability option exists to randomly vary one material parameter, such as ksat for SVFlux™ models or friction angle for SVSlope® models, based on a distribution curve. A third option now exists in SVOffice™ 2009, where a material parameter is spatially varied based on direct user measurements, and is referred to as "user-specified" spatial variability.

User-specified spatial variability is enabled from the Options menu in exactly the same way as the random field spatial variability option. The key difference is that a grid of values is specified instead of a mid-point and a standard deviation. The grid can also be Kriged from a set of scatter points. Otherwise, the user-specified spatial variability feature behaves in exactly the same way as the randomly generated one.

This new feature is implemented in the latest version of SVOffice™ 2009 as a free upgrade for all existing SVFlux™ Professional and SVSlope® Professional license holders.

If you would like more information on this feature, or would like to obtain a trial license of our products, feel free to contact us directly.