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Index
1. Overview
2. Easy
to Use
3. Integration
4. Typical
Applications
5. Features
6. Formulation
7. Engineering
Methodology Book
8. Student Edition
9. Basic Edition
10. System Requirements
11. In the Box
 Overview
 AIR/W is a finite element software product for analyzing groundwater-air
interaction problems within porous materials such as soil
and rock. Its comprehensive formulation allows you to consider
analyses ranging from simple, saturated steady-state problems
to sophisticated, saturated-unsaturated time-dependent problems.
You can apply AIR/W to the analysis and design of geotechnical,
civil, hydrogeological, and mining engineering projects.
AIR/W can be applied to both saturated and unsaturated zones,
a feature that greatly broadens the range of problems that
can be analyzed. In addition to traditional steady-state
water flow assumptions where the air contents are fixed,
the saturated/unsaturated formulation of AIR/W makes it
possible to analyze air flow and seepage as a function of
time and to consider such processes as changing air and
water contents. When linked with TEMP/W, it can account
for air and water flow in freezing and thawing soils where
the air density changes due to temperature changes.
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Easy to Use
Defining
a Seepage/Air flow Model
The unique CAD-like technology in AIR/W allows you to generate
your finite element mesh by drawing regions on the screen.
You can then interactively apply boundary conditions and specify
material properties. You can even estimate the material property
functions from easily measured parameters like grain-size,
saturated conductivity, saturated water content, and the air-entry
value. If you make a mistake, you can correct it using the
Undo command.
Viewing the Analysis Results
Once you have solved your seepage problem, AIR/W offers many
tools for viewing results. Generate contours or x-y plots
of any computed parameter, such as head, pressures, matric
suction, gradients, velocities, and conductivities. Air or
water velocity vectors show flow direction and rate. Transient
conditions can be shown as the changing water table position
over time. Interactively query computed values by clicking
on any node, Gauss region, or flux section. Then export results
into other applications, such as Microsoft Excel or Word,
for further analysis or to prepare presentations.
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Integration with Other Applications
Use
AIR/W data in TEMP/W
AIR/W and SEEP/W integrate with TEMP/W so that you can model
convective heat transfer due to moving air and water. Conversely,
you can have the thermal solution affect the air densities
and pressures in AIR/W so that the air will flow based on
thermal processes alone. AIR/W passes air content and mass
flow vectors to TEMP/W and it returns the new temperature
profile to AIR/W. All of this happens automatically based
on your analysis type definition.
Click
for a complete  Product Integration Chart
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AIR/W 2007 is part of GeoStudio 2007, an integrated tool
containing GEO-SLOPE's leading suite of geotechnical modeling
software products: SLOPE/W, SEEP/W, SIGMA/W, QUAKE/W, TEMP/W,
CTRAN/W, AIR/W and VADOSE/W. Using GeoStudio means you can
run all of these products in one environment, creating one
model definition that is shared among all products.
For example, when you create your geometry and material
properties in one product, they are available immediately
in all other products. Your model is stored in one definition
file, which is based on the industry-standard XML format.
Sharing the data lets you run many analyses on the same
problem. You can use the results from one analysis in another,
or import files created by previous versions of the software.
Typical Applications
SEEP/W
can model almost any groundwater problem, including:
- Soil
vapor extraction systems
- Air
pressure in tunnels for support and water inflow control
- Air
pressure response ahead of water infiltration fronts
- Thermal
/ density dependent air flow that contributes to convective
heat transfer in freezing / thawing soils (when coupled
with TEMP/W)
- The
true matric suction (Ua-Uw) phenomenon
- plus
many more!
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Features
- Analysis
types include steady-state confined and unconfined flow,
transient flow, 2-D flow in a cross-section or in plan
view, and 3D axisymmetric flow.
- Boundary
condition types include total head, pressure head, or
flux specified as a constant or a function of time; pressure
head; transient flux as a function of computed head; review
and adjustment of seepage face conditions.
- Volumetric
water content and conductivity functions can be estimated
from basic parameters and grain-size functions.
- Adaptive
time stepping to ensure the use of optimal time steps
in transient analyses with sudden changes in boundary
conditions.
- Flow
path deliniation.
- And
many more!
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Formulation
Soil
Properties
The hydraulic conductivity of the soil is a function of the
negative pore-water pressure in the unsaturated regions. The
rate of change in water content is dependent on the pore-water
pressure during transient processes. Hydraulic conductivity
can be defined as anisotropic in two orthogonal directions.
Iterative Process
The nonlinear nature of the finite element equations is handled
using an efficient radial search iterative scheme. Graphing
tools are available during run-time to help you judge if convergence
has been achieved. This has proved to be extremely useful
in solving highly nonlinear flow systems.
Flux Quantities
AIR/W computes the total flux across single or multiple lines
drawn through the mesh.
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Engineering Methodology Book
When you purchase a AIR/W 2007 license you also receive a
copy of the AIR/W Engineering Methodology book, Air Flow
Modeling with AIR/W 2007. This book is not a software
manual but a full-length book that discusses why and how to
model. It does not describe how to use the commands in the
software or which buttons to click - that is provided in detail
in the Online Help. Instead it is about thinking: how to think
before, during and after setting up and solving a model. The
Engineering Methodology book has chapters devoted to:
- Introduction
- Numerical
Modeling: What, Why and How
- Meshing
- Material
Properties
- Boundary
Conditions
- Analysis
Types
- Numerical
Issues
- Simulation
of Flow Nets
- Visualization
of Results
- Modeling
Tips and Tricks
- Product
Integration Illustrations
- Illustrative
Examples
- Theory
- Appendices
- References
- Index
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The
GeoStudio Student Edition is a free product designed as an
aid to learning geotechnical numerical modeling. It is an
ideal teaching tool for university professors both at the
undergraduate and graduate levels.
The software contains limited versions of SLOPE/W, SEEP/W,
SIGMA/W, QUAKE/W, TEMP/W, CTRAN/W, AIR/W and VADOSE/W.
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The
GeoStudio Basic Edition is a feature-limited version of seven
products: SLOPE/W, SEEP/W, SIGMA/W, QUAKE/W, TEMP/W, CTRAN/W
and AIR/W. The Basic Edition is ideal for use in routine engineering
practice for the analysis of problems with limited geometric
complexity. While primarily intended for analyzing the stability
of natural and man-made earth slopes, you can also use GeoStudio
Basic for the analysis of confined and unconfined steady-state
seepage problems, for the analysis of linear-elastic settlement
and stress distribution problems, for the tracking of contaminants
within ground water flow and for the analysis of freeze-thaw
problems.
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Pentium
III with Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, or Vista
Intel dual-core processor with 1 GB of RAM recommended
800x600 display (1024x768 or higher is recommended)
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or higher
.NET 1.1 (.NET 2.0 included on the CD)
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AIR/W
2007 ships with these items:
- A
CD-ROM containing GeoStudio 2007 and Seep3D
- A
Resources CD-ROM containing tutorials and detailed example
problems
- Free
Student and Viewer licenses for all software on the CD
(except for Seep3D, which does not have a Student license)
- Hardware
keys for any licenses you purchased. The license files
themselves will be delivered electronically.
- Engineering
Methodology books for each product you purchased
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