PLAXIS 3D 2010.01 Update Released

With the option to import or create arbitrary surface and solid geometry within the user interface, PLAXIS 3D is a finite element analysis program specifically developed for the detailed three-dimensional analysis of deformation and stability in geotechnical engineering. It is equipped with many unique features to deal with various aspects of complex geotechnical structures and construction processes, including the interaction between structures and the adjacent soil.

Advanced constitutive models enable the simulation of the non-linear, time-dependent and anisotropic behaviour of soils and rock. Furthermore, as soil is a multi-phase material, special capabilities also accurately model the influence of hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic pore pressures within the ground.

New & Improved Features

PLAXIS 3D 2010.01 contains improved features compared to the previous version (2010, 30-06-2010):

• Several improvements in the rectangle selection tool.
• Some speed-ups in the intersection routines for particular cases.
• PackProject is now available, utilising two industry-standard algorithms (7-zip and zip).
• The array command generates better sequential names, making it easier to define staged
  construction for segmented geometries. This change does affect the results you get when playing back existing log files that create multiple copies per dimension of multiple objects of the same type. An example: two node to node anchor lines are arrayed along a pair of walls, one on the left and one on the right. In the old case, the anchors on the left would have consecutive names and the anchors on the right had consecutive names, which meant that Anchor_5 could find itself opposite of Anchor_23. In the new situation, opposite anchors will have sequential names.

Fixed Bugs

• Fixed the initialisation of water conditions in staged construction. It is however still necessary to always check using the Preview function that the generated pore pressures are as expected, also to guard against user errors.
• Using particular units no longer leads to problems on systems using the comma as decimal separator.
• If a previously defined soil model of type “User-defined” is switched to some other type of model, this new model is now always saved correctly.
• User-defined water levels can be deleted with the Delete button.
• Estimated end time for phases is now always correct.
• It’s now possible to snap during the drawing of polygons even after the third point has been created.
• When the K0 procedure is used with overconsolidated materials using the Modified Cam-Clay soil model, the p_p value is now correctly initialised. The K0 procedure can therefore now be used with the Modified Cam-Clay soil model.
• Fixed many sources of crashes.

Known Issues

• See the remarks above for information on compatibility changes.
• User-defined prescribed displacements / fixities always ‘win’ from automatically defined fixities. This means that if a prescribed surface displacement is placed on the top surface and this surface displacement shares an edge with the side surface of the model (e.g. in the modelling of a symmetrical smooth footing), there will be no horizontal fixity on the shared edge. In this case, add a line prescribed displacement along this edge and assign the proper fixity conditions to it.
• If the Disclaimer shown at startup is not accepted, the application may hang. In this case, kill the Plaxis3DInput.exe process using the Windows Task Manager (press Ctrl+Alt+Del, then select the “Start Task Manager” option).
• If your CodeMeter key has an expired 3D Foundation or 3D Tunnel licence, it is not possible to start PLAXIS 3D. Our Sales department can provide you with an update for your key in this case.
• It is not possible to use file names that contain characters outside the Latin-1 character set (e.g. Chinese or Russian).

User friendly 3D geotechnical software

PLAXIS 3D is intended to provide a flexible 3D tool for practical analysis to be used by geotechnical engineers who are not necessarily numerical specialists. Plaxis has addressed this issue by designing robust and theoretically sound computational procedures.

• Logical geotechnical workflow
• Easy-to-use graphical user interface
• Borehole wizard for soil modelling
• Real 3D interaction

Flexible and interoperable geometry

With PLAXIS 3D arbitrary geometry of soil and structures can be defined in two different modes. These modes are specifically defined for Soil or Structural modelling. Independent solid models can automatically be intersected and meshed.

• DXF, DWG, 3DS and Terrain geometry import facilities
• Model explorer offering direct access to all objects
• Commands runner and model replay functions
• Intersect and Combine tools for complex shapes

Realistic simulation of construction stages

The Staged constructions mode enables a realistic simulation of construction and excavation processes by activating and deactivating soil volume clusters and structural objects, application of loads, changing of water tables, etc.

• Convenient and intuitive Phase explorer
• Multi object editing
• Realistic assessment of stresses and displacements
• Automatic regeneration of construction stages for geometric changes

Robust and reliable calculation kernel

The well-proven PLAXIS calculation kernel distinguishes between a Plastic calculation, a Consolidation analysis and a Phi-c reduction (safety analysis). All types of analyses can be performed with Updated Mesh to take into account large deformations.

• Well-proven and robust calculation procedures
• 64-bit Calculation kernel
• Parallelization of independent calculation phases

Comprehensive and detailed post-processing

PLAXIS Output consists of a full suite of visualization tools to check details of the complex inner structure of a full 3D underground soil-structure model.

• Contour, shading, iso-surface and vectors plots
• Movable cross-sections
• Advanced data slicing
• Extensive report and movie Generator

Download

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If you would like to speak to someone regarding the range of Plaxis software, please contact us.