CPillar version 4.

Tutorial 1 Quick Start: Rigid Analysis of Square Pillar

• Square pillar model
• Rigid Analysis
• Generalized Hoek-Brown (GSI, mi, D) Strength Criterion
• Deterministic Analysis
• Sensitivity Analysis
CPillar v. 4.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 1: Quick Start: Rigid Analysis of Square Pillar

Introduction
This model represents a square 10 x 10 m pillar with a thickness of 4 meters. There is 1 meter
of overburden and 1 meter of free water (6 – (4+1) = 1).
The lateral stress is defined by gravity. Lateral stresses will be calculated based on the
Horizontal / Vertical stress ratios (0.8 in both x and y directions).

Model Setup
If you have not already done so, start the CPillar program by double-clicking on the CPillar icon
in your installation folder. Or from the Start menu, select All Programs > Rocscience > CPillar
4.0 > CPillar 4.0.
If the CPillar application window is not already maximized, maximize it now, so that the full
screen is available for viewing the model. You will have a 3D pillar displayed on the screen.
Open the Project Settings dialog and in the General tab, ensure the Units are set to “Metric,
stress as MPa.” We will use the default Latin Hypercube sampling method with 5000 samples,
and the default water unit weight of 0.00981 MN/m3. Click on the Project Summary tab.
Change the Project Title to “CPillar Quick Start.” Click OK.
In CPillar, the entirety of the input parameters are entered in the “Pillar Information” side panel.
To change a parameter, click on the value and enter the new value or select from the dropdown
as necessary. In this example, we will use the following parameters. Enter the following data
into the panel:

Parameter Value Statistical Distribution

Analysis Method Rigid N/A
Analysis Type Deterministic N/A
Pillar Length 10 m N/A
Pillar Width 10 m N/A
Pillar Height 4m N/A
Rock Unit Weight 0.027 MN/m3 N/A
Overburden Unit Weight 0.02 MN/m3 N/A
Is Pillar Permeable? No N/A
Stress Type Gravity N/A
Water Height 6m N/A
Overburden Thickness 1m N/A
Horizontal / Vertical Kx 0.8 N/A
Horizontal / Vertical Ky 0.8 N/A
Generalized Hoek-Brown
Strength Type N/A
(GSI, mi, D)
Intact UCS 60 MPa N/A
Geological Strength Index 50 N/A
Intact Rock Constant mi 10 N/A
Disturbance Factor 0 N/A

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CPillar v. 4.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 1: Quick Start: Rigid Analysis of Square Pillar

The Pillar Information side panel should look as follows:

Note that since we have selected the Deterministic Analysis Type, we do not see the option to
assign any statistical distributions to our parameters. As such, a Probability of Failure will not
be calculated.

Results
We are now ready to view the results in the Results Table. During a Deterministic Analysis, the
results are computed automatically.
Your results should looks as shown:

Note that since this is a Rigid Analysis, shear is the only failure mode; as such Shear is the only
failure result displayed.

Sensitivity Analysis
CPillar allows the user to plot a Sensitivity Analysis, in order to see the effect certain parameters
have on the results.
Click on the Sensitivity Analysis button in the toolbar. Select the Add button in the Sensitivity
Analysis Input dialog. Select the Water Height variable from the variable drop-down menu. Set
the range from 3 to 9 m. The dialog should look as follows:

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CPillar v. 4.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 1: Quick Start: Rigid Analysis of Square Pillar

Click Plot. Your screen should look as shown:

As expected the Factor of Safety decreases rapidly after the 5 meter mark. Recall that 5 meters
is the height of the pillar and the overburden thickness (4 + 1 = 5 m). The factor of safety will
decrease very rapidly when there is a dead weight of free water present.
This concludes Tutorial 1. The finished product of this tutorial can be found in the Tutorial 01
Quick Start.cpil data file in the Tutorials folder of your CPillar installation folder.

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