plaxis tutorial 03

The Program and its Applications

Part III

by Ari Cohen

Tutorial 1 Continued: The Modeling the Settlement of a Circular Footing on Sand

18. Select Output File

Select phase to be viewed

Choosing “incremental

displacements” allows one to see the

displacement per calculation step,

helping visualize an eventual failure

mechanism

19. Deformations

Select orientation of displacement

Deformed mesh is displayed by default upon

opening program

20. StressesView effective stresses or total stresses (active pore

pressure + effective stress)

21. Viewing Tabular Results

Table output can be viewed for specific areas of concern

22. Flexible Footing

Instead of prescribed

displacement a load will be imposed on the soil yielding a displacement later

Save as under a different

name

23. Modify the GeometryChoose to

create a beam element

24. Modify the Boundary Condition

Apply a traction to the boundary simulating the

applied force on the footing

25. Assign Materials for the Footing

Select “New…” beam

material

Input material properties as with soil layer

Beam Material Properties

Drag n drop footing

material onto the beam element

26. Assign Materials cont.

27. Generate Mesh

28. Initial Conditions

Regenerate initial stresses

29. Calculations

Name the phase

30. Calculations cont.

Apply a multiplier of 350* to the traction load A

Accept default for

parameters

*note: (350) x (1kN/m2) x (p)(1)2 ≈ 1200kN

Check that points are still selected for

curves

31. Output

Double click the beam in the out put

program to view bending moments or displacements in the

beam

32. Curves Program

Select new chart upon

entering the program for the

first time

33. Generating a Load-Displacement Curve

Choose “Displacement

”

Select point “A” assigned in

the calculations

phase

Select Uy and check “Invert sign” for negative vertical displacement of

footing @ center

Choose “Multiplier”

Choose to plot the loading multiplier

along the y-axis

34. Curve Output Once generated, curve presentation

can be altered using chart and curve

settings

Thank you for your time!