A Settle3D analysis can be performed in any number of user-defined stages. Staging represents the sequence in which you would like to define and analyze your model. For example:
Loads can be applied at different stages, in any sequence.
Load magnitudes can be applied in user-defined increments, at different stages.
Load or excavation depth can be changed at different stages.
For time-dependent modeling:
Stages can represent different times of load or excavation application
Stages can represent different times at which you would like to compute analysis results
To define the number and timing of stages:
Select the Stages tab in the Project Settings dialog.
Use the Insert Before or Insert After buttons, to define the desired number of stages.
For each stage, enter the stage name and time (if applicable). See below for details.
After you select OK in the Project Settings dialog, the desired number of Stage Tabs will be displayed at the bottom of the application window. To view results at any stage, select the desired Stage Tab.
Time independent staging
If you are NOT modeling a time-dependent consolidation analysis, then simply enter a Name for each stage. The stage names will be displayed in the Stage Tabs, after you select OK in the Project Settings dialog.
Time dependent staging
If you are modeling a time-dependent consolidation analysis (i.e. the Time-dependent Consolidation Analysis checkbox is selected in Project Settings), then you must enter a Time for each stage, and a Name. NOTE:
For a time-dependent analysis, each stage represents a single point in time.
The time of each stage is defined in absolute terms with respect to time zero.
The time of each stage must be greater than or equal to the time of the previous stage.
The results at each stage represent the results at a specific time, with respect to time zero.
Results can be obtained with respect to intermediate stages, by defining a Reference Stage (see below).
The units of time are defined under the General tab in Project Settings, under the Time-dependent Consolidation checkbox.
The Name and Time of each stage will be displayed in the Stage Tabs.
Reference Stage
By default, the analysis results displayed at each stage, are the results with respect to the initial state of the model (e.g. time zero). It is possible to view results with respect to intermediate stages, by defining a Reference Stage. This is done using the Reference Stage option in the View menu. See the Reference Stage topic for details.