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The Program and Its Applications: by Ari Cohen
The Program and Its Applications: by Ari Cohen
Applications
by Ari Cohen
Background The Netherlands
Developed at the
Technical University of
Delft for Dutch DPWWM
Initially was intended to
analyze the soft soil river
embankments of the
lowlands of Holland
Soon after, the company
Plaxis BV was formed, and
the program was
expanded to cover a
broader range of
geotechnical issues
Getting Started
Input
Calculations
Output
Curves
Tutorial 1: The Modeling the Settlement
of a Circular Footing on Sand
1. Choose new or
existing project
2. General Settings
3. Plane Strain or Axisymmetry /
15-Node or 6-Node
4. Plane Strain or Axisymmetry
4. Plane Strain or Axisymmetry Cont.
x
5. 15-Node or 6-Node
5. 15-Node or 6-Node Cont.
6. Dimensions
7. Geometry Contour
8. Loads & Boundary Conditions
Prescribed Displacements
1. Special Conditions placed on geometry lines that control the
displacement of the lines
2. Drawn over geometry lines
3. Can be altered by double clicking on the geometry line associated with it
Fixities
1. Prescribed displacements equal to zero
2. Can be of horizontal, vertical, or total (horizontal & vertical)
3. Fixities take priority over displacements and other loads
Standard Fixities
1. Convenient and fast input option for many applications
Tractions
1. Distributed loads applied to geometry lines
2. Input values given in the dimensions force per unit area
3. Can be altered by double clicking on the geometry line associated with it
Point Forces
1. Are actually line loads in the out-of-plane direction
2. Can have vertical and horizontal components
Fixed Rotations
1. Fixes the rotational degree of freedom of a beam
Select
Standard
fixities
button
Global Coarseness
Distinction is made between five levels of global coarseness: Very
coarse, Coarse, Medium, Fine, and Very fine. Number of mesh elements
generated ranges from about 50 elements for the coarse setting to about
1000 elements for the very fine setting
Global Refinement
Automatically generates a refined mesh; one step per selection
Local Coarseness
In areas where it may not be necessary to have a very refined mesh, the
mesh may be made more coarse by adjusting the Local element size
factor for a particular geometry point. This can be accessed by double
clicking on any geometry point
Local Refinement
Instead of adjusting the Local element size factor, clusters, lines, or
points can be selected and the local refinement option can be used
Select
Generate
mesh
2. Phreatic Lines: Pore pressures and external water pressures can be generated on the basis of phreatic
lines. With a phreatic line it is understood that water pressures above the line are zero and increase linearly with
depth below the line. The phreatic line can be a general or user defined type
3. Groundwater Flow: In addition to generating water pressures using a phreatic line, water pressures can
also be generated using groundwater flow calculations. This requires the input of groundwater head boundary
conditions
4. Water Pressure Generation: After a phreatic line or groundwater boundary conditions are specified,
the generate water pressures button is selected to complete the water conditions process
2. Initial Stress Generation (K0-Procedure): Initial stresses in a body are influenced by the weight
of the material and the history of its formation. The stress state is generally characterized by an initial vertical
stress, sn,0 which is related by the coefficient of lateral earth pressure K 0. A default value is given based on Jakys
formula (1-sinf).
1.Select Initial
conditions
button and
accept default
water weight
2. Water levels
will not be
generated in this
example so
proceed to
generate initial
stresses
Orientation of
lines note
principal
direction