NEWEST FEATURES

• Creation of a 3D model extruded from a 2D model cross section
• Elasto-plastic materials implemented (Von Mises and Druker Praeger) in 2D
• Classic Skempton pore-water pressure loading method added (can be used instead of the General 3D Loading method)
• 1D vertical analysis now available
• Tutorial sidebar provides quick reference to basic model steps right in the CAD view
• Additional features are listed below

FEATURE COMPARISON

DETAILED FEATURES

• Fully automatic mesh generation: mesh generation may be limited by a maximum number of nodes or by a maximum specified error.
  
  View examples of three-dimensional meshing in action
• Fully automatic mesh refinement
  
  Mesh refinement is based on the relative error of the governing equation and therefore automatically locates critical zones. Mesh refinement may be specified to follow any particular variable in the problem. In a transient analysis a different mesh is generated for each time step.
  
  Read more about adaptive grid refinement in research published by Mansell, 2002
• Soil models may vary with soil region; for example, a soil using a linear elastic model may be adjacent to a soil using the Duncan and Chang model
• Saturated and unsaturated deformations of soils may be modeled
• Model settlements in the saturated or unsaturated / vadose zone
• Import pore-water pressures from SVFlux™ to allow unsaturated analysis
• Customizable solutions through a modifiable governing partial differential equation
• Input stress or displacement boundary conditions as constants or free-form equations
• Initial conditions may be imported from a previous analysis; the OCR of a previous analysis may be specified to determine the initial preconsolidation pressure of the current analysis, and any variable from a previous analysis may be specified as an initial condition for the next analysis
• Finite element analysis by the Galerkin method - the solver uses advanced features such as preconditioning of the convergence matrix as well as staging and automatic mesh refinement to achieve solutions with greater stability than any other software currently available
• Solver runs on Red Hat Linux or Windows, with support for hyper-threading and multiple processors
• Anisotropic analysis at any angle in two or three dimensions
• Axisymmetric analysis
• Use of Skempton's A and B parameters to compute pore-water pressure build-up

MODEL DESIGN FEATURES

• CAD style entry of geometry based on AutoCAD™
• Grid, snapping, and object snapping features available
• Zooming, panning features available
• Model built as stacked surfaces; Each surface may be imported from Surfer or any XYZ data text file
• Models stored in XML format for speed and easy data transfer
• Each surface may have multiple regions defined - Regions are extruded between the surfaces on which they are placed
• Automatic pinching out of intersecting soil layers or grids. Overlapping grids can also be handled by specifying which grid is the domainant grid. They can also be specified to allow a minimum thickness between grids.
• Import AutoCAD™ .dxf geometry and incorporate it directly into the model - node points are automatically aligned with line segment end points
• Graphically assigned boundary conditions
• Free, fixed, displacement constant or expression, force constant or expression, or water boundary conditions may be specified; free form equations may be specified as a function of position (i.e. d=0.5+log(x)*0.1)
• Problems may be entered in Metric or Imperial units
• Initial water table may be graphically drawn on the problem or imported from an SVFlux™ analysis
• Problem geometry may be imported from existing problems
• Existing problems may be saved under a new name in the database to allow quick generation of multiple scenarios
• Colors or patterns of soil regions may be specified
• Manual entry of region coordinate points
• Lines (extruded into walls) may be added to model to force mesh refinement along a linear object
• Internal boundary conditions may be set or node density specified along internal line objects
• Sketch text or lines may be added to the model design
• Graphical model design may be exported as a WMF or DXF file and/or printed
• Bitmap or DXF geometry may be imported and layered behind model geometry to simplify model creation

OUTPUT FEATURES

• Color visualization of the result mesh is available via our powerful AcuMesh™ visualization software
• Transparency allows visualization of three-dimensional internal mesh and/or isosurfaces
• Cutaways allow user to view internal sections of the model
• Color contour plots of any problem variable may be placed on any face of the model; custom color shadings may be specified
• Color contour plots of all relevant variables
• Isosurfaces may be plotted for three-dimensional models
• Two- or three-dimensional vector plots of stress or deformation components are available
• Plots may be zoomed to isolate any region of interest
• Cross plots of stress or deformation components are available
• Plots of Mohr's circle at any finite element node are available
• Volume integrals may be computed over the entire problem or any particular region of interest
• Mesh plots track mesh refinement
• Plots of value versus time may be generated at any coordinate for all relevant variables
• Surface plots of any two-dimensional variable over the problem region may be produced
• Overlaying of plots may be performed - for example, vectors may be shown in Region 1 while contours of head may be shown in Region 2
• Text and line art may be added to output
• Graphical output may be exported to WMF, DXF, JPG, or BMP formats
• Animation of any transient results
• Overlay of DXF files