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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RocSupport 3.0 Provides Better Analysis, New Features
Users of all levels can benefit from easier, faster analyses
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TORONTO, ON. (July 1, 2004) - Rocscience Inc., leading developer of geotechnical analysis and design software, today announced the release of RocSupport 3.0, the latest version of its rock support estimation program. RocSupport
is a flexible tool for estimating deformation in circular or near circular excavations in weak rock and for visualizing its interaction with different support systems. Version 3.0 offers improved analytical methods and an enhanced interface. This easy to use, yet sophisticated release features a substantial number of additions and improvements, making RocSupport an invaluable tool for tunnelling and other rock projects requiring support analysis.
About RocSupport 3.0
RocSupport 3.0 will perform a deterministic or probabilistic analysis to find the factor of safety, or probability of failure, given an excavation's radius, in-situ stress conditions, rock parameters and support parameters. The new release offers new features for data analysis, as well as improving on the current methods. The Carranza-Torres solution has been updated to the latest 2004 method. This solution is no longer restricted to intact rock properties and can be used for generalized Hoek-Brown materials by providing peak and residual strength parameters. In addition, Young's modulus is no longer automatically calculated - users can input their own value.
RocSupport 3.0 allows users to plot a second ground reaction curve representing long-term rock mass behaviour - the plot is generated by reducing the strength parameters of a rock by a user-specified factor. In version 3.0, the conversion from Hoek-Brown to Mohr-Coulomb parameters used in the Duncan Fama solution has been updated to the Hoek-Brown 2002 method, and support installation can now be specified in terms of tunnel wall deformation (either tunnel convergence or wall displacement). This feature is useful in the initial design stage when only the maximum allowed deformation is known, not the distance from tunnel face to support. The Longitudinal Deformation Profile, for defining the relationship between the distance from the face and the tunnel convergence, is now user-configurable - users can enter their own data from numerical or empirical analyses.
RocSupport 3.0 now offers better probabilistic data analysis than ever before. Tunnel radius, in-situ stress and all rock parameters can now be assigned statistical properties. Two new statistical distributions have been added: lognormal and gamma. A scatter plot option (with a regression line) has been added to determine the relationship between any two input or output variables. Users can also define their own variables to be used in histogram, cumulative and scatter plots - the new variables can be defined as functions of other input or output variables.
RocSupport 3.0's user interface has been significantly enhanced. The input data dialog for probabilistic analysis has been redesigned to a spreadsheet format and the dialog for deterministic data has been rearranged to fit all the data in one tab, allowing for quicker data entry and better visualization. An interactive graphic of a tunnel profile can be now be displayed in the Ground Reaction view, allowing users to better visualize how far the support is installed from the tunnel face. By dragging the support with a mouse, users can instantly see new results such as factor of safety and final tunnel convergence. Output is more customizable now, with more control over features such as decimal precision, fonts, colors, headers, footers and chart borders - users can create better screen captures for reports.
Availability and Pricing
RocSupport 3.0 is available for Windows 9x, Me, NT4, 2000 and XP, with a Pentium processor and 64MB RAM as a minimum configuration. Prices are $695 US and $1045 CDN (single license). Network licenses are available, with price based on the number of concurrent users.
For more information and a free software demonstration, visit www.rocscience.com.
For further information, please contact:
Alison Morley
Marketing and Communications Specialist
Rocscience Inc.
Phone: 416-698-8217
Email: software@rocscience.com
About Rocscience
Rocscience develops and markets analysis and design programs for civil engineering and mining applications. Rocscience's high quality programs allow engineers to quickly and accurately analyze surface and underground rock and soil structures, improving safety and reducing the cost of design projects. All Rocscience software is backed by free technical support and a 30-day money back guarantee.
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Rocscience and RocSupport are registered trademarks of Rocscience Inc.
Editor note: Screen shots and review copies are available.
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