What geotechnical software is used to analyze relatively rigid walls used for supporting the soil mass laterally?
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Geo5 GEO5 is a geotechnical software suite developed by Fine s.r.o. (Czech Republic). First programs were written by Jiri Laurin in 1989 in cooperation with the Faculty of Civil Engineering of CTU in Prague. The software is used in the field of geotechnical engineering to analyze slope stability, shoring excavations structures, retaining walls, foundations (piles, spread footing or mats) and tunnels.
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Retaining wall Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting the soil mass laterally so that the soil can be retained at different levels on the two sides.
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Trench shield Trench shields (also called Trench Boxes or Trench Sheets) are steel or aluminum structures used for protecting utility workers while performing their duties within a trench. They are customarily constructed with sidewalls of varying thicknesses held apart by steel or aluminum spreaders. Spreaders can be interchanged to match the width of the trench. The different materials and building designs lead to a variety of depth ratings, i.e. the depth of a trench that the shield can withstand a collapse without buckling. Depth ratings are determined by registered professional engineers.
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SVFlux SVFLUX is a finite element seepage analysis program developed by SoilVision Systems Ltd.. The software is designed to analyze both saturated and unsaturated flow through the ground through the solving of Richard's equation. The program is used in the fields of civil engineering and hydrology in order to analyze seepage and groundwater regional flow. The software is used for the calculation of flow rates, pore-water pressures, and pumping rates associated with regional groundwater flow. The software can be coupled with CHEMFLUX in order to calculate diffusion, advection, and decay rates or with SVHEAT in order to calculate thermal gradients and freeze/thaw fronts.
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Back-stripping Back-stripping (also back stripping or backstripping) is a geophysical analysis technique used on sedimentary rock sequences - the technique is used to quantitatively estimate the depth that the basement would be in the absence of sediment and water loading. This depth provides a measure of the unknown tectonic driving forces that are responsible for basin formation (otherwise known as tectonic subsidence or uplift). By comparing backstripped curves to theoretical curves for basin subsidence and uplift it is possible to deduce information on the basin forming mechanisms.
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Vertical tillage Emerging in North America in the 1970s and 1980s, vertical tillage (VT) is a system of principles and guidelines similar to conservation agriculture (CA) in that it aims to improve soil health, increase water infiltration and decrease soil erosion and compaction (improve bulk density). With varying degrees of soil movement, it aims to not invert the soil and keep residue on the surface where it protects the soil. It usually includes small forward-facing discs that limit soil inversion and slices the residue for faster decomposition and to get a seeder or planter into the heavy residue-laden fields. Many times it also includes a deep ripping tool for breaking up hard pans and compaction created from traditional tillage implements and heavy equipment like large tractors and combine harvesters.
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Rock mass classification Rock mass classification systems are used for various engineering design and stability analysis. These are based on empirical relations between rock mass parameters and engineering applications, such as tunnels, slopes, foundations, and excavatability. The first rock mass classification system in geotechnical engineering was proposed in 1946 for tunnels with steel set support.
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Tiltmeter A tiltmeter is a sensitive inclinometer designed to measure very small changes from the vertical level, either on the ground or in structures. Tiltmeters are used extensively for monitoring volcanoes, the response of dams to filling, the small movements of potential landslides, the orientation and volume of hydraulic fractures, and the response of structures to various influences such as loading and foundation settlement. Tiltmeters may be purely mechanical or incorporate vibrating-wire or electrolytic sensors for electronic measurement. A sensitive instrument can detect changes of as little as one arc second.
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Hilling Hilling, earthing up or ridging is the technique in agriculture and horticulture of piling soil up around the base of a plant. It can be done by hand (usually using a hoe), or with powered machinery, typically a tractor attachment.
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Slope stability Slope stability is the potential of soil covered slopes to withstand and undergo movement. Stability is determined by the balance of shear stress and shear strength. A previously stable slope may be initially affected by preparatory factors, making the slope conditionally unstable. Triggering factors of a slope failure can be climatic events which can then make a slope unstable, leading to mass movements. Mass movements can be caused by increase in shear stress, such as loading, lateral pressure, and transient forces. Alternatively, shear strength may be decreased by weathering, changes in pore water pressure, and organic material.
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Bailer (hydrogeology) A bailer in hydrogeology is a hollow tube used to retrieve groundwater samples from monitoring wells. Groundwater monitoring wells are drilled in areas where there are underground storage tanks or where there is environmental remediation occurring. The wells are typically built out of PVC casing which is slotted to allow groundwater to flow freely through the well. Bailers are tied to a piece of rope (usually made from nylon or polypropylene) or a piece of wire (composed of Teflon or stainless steel) and lowered into the water column. Once lowered, the bailer uses a simple ball check valve to seal at the bottom in order to pull up a sample of the groundwater table. Bailers can be disposable or reusable, and they are made out of polyethylene, PVC, FEP or stainless steel.
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Soil mechanics Soil mechanics is a branch of soil physics and applied mechanics that describes the behavior of soils. It differs from fluid mechanics and solid mechanics in the sense that soils consist of a heterogeneous mixture of fluids (usually air and water) and particles (usually clay, silt, sand, and gravel) but soil may also contain organic solids and other matter. Along with rock mechanics, soil mechanics provides the theoretical basis for analysis in geotechnical engineering, a subdiscipline of civil engineering, and engineering geology, a subdiscipline of geology. Soil mechanics is used to analyze the deformations of and flow of fluids within natural and man-made structures that are supported on or made of soil, or structures that are buried in soils. Example applications are building and bridge foundations, retaining walls, dams, and buried pipeline systems. Principles of soil mechanics are also used in related disciplines such as engineering geology, geophysical engineering, coastal engineering, agricultural engineering, hydrology and soil physics.
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Earth anchor An earth anchor is a device designed to support structures, most commonly used in geotechnical and construction applications. Also known as a ground anchor, percussion driven earth anchor or mechanical anchor, it may be impact driven into the ground or run in spirally, depending on its design and intended force-resistance characteristics.
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Soil horizon A soil horizon is a layer parallel to the soil surface, whose physical characteristics differ from the layers above and beneath. Each soil type usually has three or four horizons. Horizons are defined in most cases by obvious physical features, chiefly colour and texture. These may be described both in absolute terms (particle size distribution for texture, for instance) and in terms relative to the surrounding material, i.e. ‘coarser’ or ‘sandier’ than the horizons above and below. Water dissolves and removes nutrients as it passes through the soil.
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Land use capability map Land use capability maps are maps created to represent the potential uses of a "unit" of land. They are measured using various indicators, although the most common are five physical factors (rock type, , slope, erosion degree and type, and vegetation). In more scientific terms, these can be classed as lithology, edaphology, topography, gradient, and biotic features.
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Power engineering software Power engineering software is software used to create models, analyze or calculate the design of Power stations, Overhead power lines, Transmission towers, Electrical grids, Grounding and Lightning systems and others. It is a type of application software which is used for power engineering problems, which are transformed into mathematical expressions.
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High strain dynamic testing High strain dynamic testing is a method of testing deep foundations to obtain information about their capacity and integrity, and in some cases, to monitor their installation. It is codified by ASTM D4945-12 - Standard Test Method for High-Strain Dynamic Testing of Piles.
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VisualFEA VisualFEA is a finite element analysis program running on MS Windows and Mac OS X platforms. The program is being developed and distributed by Intuition Software, Inc. in South Korea, and is used chiefly for structural and geotechnical analysis. The strongest point of the program is its intuitive and user-friendly usage based on graphical pre- and postprocessing capabilities. VisualFEA has educational functions for teaching and learning structural mechanics and finite element analysis through graphical simulation. Thus, this program is widely used in college courses related to structural mechanics and finite element method.
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Standard penetration test The standard penetration test (SPT) is an in-situ dynamic penetration test designed to provide information on the geotechnical engineering properties of soil. The test procedure is described in ISO 22476-3, ASTM D1586 and Australian Standards AS 1289.6.3.1.
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Seismic analysis Seismic analysis is a subset of structural analysis and is the calculation of the response of a building (or nonbuilding) structure to earthquakes. It is part of the process of structural design, earthquake engineering or structural assessment and retrofit (see structural engineering) in regions where earthquakes are prevalent.
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Terramechanics Terramechanics is the study of soil properties, specifically the interaction of wheeled or tracked vehicles on various surfaces.
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Martian soil Martian soil is the fine regolith found on the surface of Mars. Its properties can differ significantly from those of terrestrial soil. The term Martian soil typically refers to the finer fraction of regolith. On Earth, the term "soil" usually includes organic content. In contrast, planetary scientists adopt a functional definition of soil to distinguish it from rocks. Rocks generally refer to 10 cm scale and larger materials (e.g., fragments, breccia, and exposed outcrops) with high thermal inertia, with areal fractions consistent with the Viking Infrared Thermal Mapper (IRTM) data, and immobile under current aeolian conditions. Consequently, rocks classify as grains exceeding the size of cobbles on the Wentworth scale.