Slope Stability Analysis Software
SLOPE/W is the leading slope stability software product for
computing the factor of safety of earth and rock slopes. With
SLOPE/W, you can analyze both simple and complex problems
for a variety of slip surface shapes, pore-water pressure
conditions, soil properties, analysis methods and loading
conditions.
Using limit equilibrium, SLOPE/W can model heterogeneous soil
types, complex stratigraphic and slip surface geometry, and
variable pore-water pressure conditions using a large selection
of soil models. Slope stability analyses can be performed
using deterministic or probabilistic input parameters. Stresses
computed by a finite element stress analysis may be used in
addition to the limit equilibrium computations, for the most
complete slope stability analysis available.
With this comprehensive range of features, SLOPE/W can be
used to analyze almost any slope stability problem you will
encounter in your geotechnical, civil, and mining engineering
projects.
Defining
a Stability Model
The unique CAD-like technology in SLOPE/W allows you to create
your geometry by drawing it on the screen. You can even import
a DXF picture to assist you. Then choose an analysis method,
specify soil properties and pore-water pressures, define reinforcement
loads, and create your trial slip surfaces.
Viewing the Analysis Results
Once you have solved your stability problem, SLOPE/W offers
many tools for viewing the results. Display the minimum slip
surface and factor of safety, or view each one individually.
View information about the critical slip surface, including
the total sliding mass, a free body diagram and a force polygon
showing the forces acting on each slice. Contour the factors
of safety, or show plots of computed parameters. Then prepare
the results for your report by adding text labels, axes and
pictures to the drawing.
Use
pore-water pressures from SEEP/W, SIGMA/W, QUAKE/W or VADOSE/W
Using finite-element computed pore-water pressures in SLOPE/W
makes it possible to deal with highly irregular saturated/unsaturated
conditions or transient pore-water pressure conditions in
a stability analysis. For example, you can analyze changes
in stability as the pore-water pressure changes with time.
Use stresses from SIGMA/W, or QUAKE/W
Using finite element computed stresses in SLOPE/W allows you
to conduct a stability analysis in addition to a static deformation
or dynamic earthquake analysis. For example, you can compute
the minimum factor of safety that will be reached during an
earthquake, or you can find the resulting permanent deformation,
if any, using a Newmark-type procedure.
SLOPE/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
SLOPE/W
can model almost any stability problem, including:
Natural
earth and rock slopes
Sloping
excavations
Earth
embankments
Open-pit
high walls
Anchored
retaining structures
Berms
at the toe of a slope
Surcharges
at the top of a slope
Earth
reinforcement, including soil nails and geofabrics
Limit
equilibrium methods include Morgenstern-Price, GLE, Spencer,
Bishop, Ordinary, Janbu and more.
Soil
strength models include Mohr-Coulomb, Bilinear, Undrained
(Phi=0), anisotropic strength, shear/normal function and
many types of strength functions.
Specify
many types of interslice shear-normal force functions.
Pore-water
pressure options include Ru coefficients, piezometric
lines, pressure contours, a grid of values or finite-element
computed heads or pressures.
Define
potential slip surfaces by a grid of centers and radius
lines, blocks of slip surface points, or fully specified
shapes.
Use
probabilistic soil properties, line loads and piezometric
lines.
SLOPE/W
is formulated in terms of moment and force equilibrium factor
of safety equations. For example, the Morgenstern-Price method
satisfies both force and moment equilibrium. This general
formulation makes it easy to compute the factor of safety
for a variety of methods and to readily understand the relationships
and differences among all the methods.
SLOPE/W can use finite element computed stresses from SIGMA/W
or QUAKE/W to calculate a stability factor by computing both
total shear resistance and mobilized shear stress along the
entire slip surface. SLOPE/W then computes a local stability
factor for each slice.
Probabilistic analysis can be performed by using normal distribution
functions to vary soil properties and loading conditions.
Using a Monte Carlo approach, SLOPE/W computes the probability
of failure in addition to the conventional factor of safety.
When you purchase a SLOPE/W 2007 license you also receive
a copy of the SLOPE/W Engineering Methodology book, Stability
Modeling with SLOPE/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:
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.
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.
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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Slope Stability Analysis Software
Product Integration Chart
