Composite Surfaces Tutorial

This tutorial will use the same model as Tutorial 02 Materials & Loading (with some modifications), to demonstrate how to perform a circular surface search which allows composite circular / non-circular surfaces to be analyzed. For this model, it will be assumed that the material below the weak layer is impenetrable (e.g. bedrock or soil with much higher strength).

Composite Surfaces Tutorial (click to view PDF file of tutorial)

Topics Covered in this Tutorial

weak layer above bedrock
pore pressure defined by water table
uniform distributed load
grid search with composite surfaces option enabled
boundary editing
right-click shortcuts
comparison of search method results
show slices
filter surfaces
editing the search grid
auto refine search method

Model with weak layer above impenetrable material, composite surfaces option enabled