Material Models in Slide & Slide3

Strength Types
 Mohr-Coulomb  Barton-Bandis
 Undrained (Phi=0)  Power Curve
 No Strength (ie. water)  Hyperbolic
 Infinite Strength  Discrete Function
 Anisotropic Function  Drained-Undrained
 Shear/Normal Function  Anisotropic Linear
 Anisotropic Function  Generalized Anisotropic
 Hoek-Brown  Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear
 Generalized Hoek-Brown  SHANSEP
 Vertical Stress Ratio

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

 Mohr-Coulomb
 Most common way to model soil shear
strength
 Can be used for either total or
effective stress conditions

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Undrained (Phi = 0)
 The friction angle is automatically set to zero
 Shear strength is defined only by the cohesion of the material
 Three different cohesion types:
 Constant
 Function of depth, where depth is measured from the top of the material layer
to the center of a slice base
 Function of depth, where depth is measured from a user-specified datum (y-
coordinate) to the center of a slice base

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

No Strength
 This model is intended primarily to model ponded water.
 Strength parameters are disabled, since shear strength is zero
 No Strength material contributes only its weight (and hydrostatic
force) to the model
 In general, using this material is NOT recommended. There is one
specialized situation where this material may be used:
 If you wish to customize the unit weight of ponded water (i.e. use a different
unit weight from the Pore Fluid Unit Weight specified in the Project Settings).

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Infinite Strength
 Represents a slip surface “exclusion zone”, through which slip surfaces
are not allowed to pass
 Strength and Water parameters are disabled
 Can be used to model concrete retaining wall or heavily reinforced soil
regions

 Tips
 When a slice boundary passes through an infinite strength material, the average strength parameters
along the slice boundary cannot be determined
 In that case, it is recommended to use the ‘User-Defined’ strength parameter options, if possible

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Shear/Normal Function
 Allows you to define an arbitrary shear / normal function, to define a
non-linear Mohr-Coulomb strength envelope for a material
 As you enter the points, a shear-normal graph is populated so you can
visualize the strength envelope
 Shear / Normal functions can be exported or imported

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

 Hoek-Brown
 Refers to the ORIGINAL Hoek-Brown failure criterion (Hoek & Bray 1981)
 Special case of the Generalized Hoek-Brown criterion, with a constant a=0.5
 The original Hoek-Brown criterion has been found to work well for most rocks
of good to reasonable quality in which the rock mass strength is controlled by
tightly interlocking angular rock pieces
 For lesser quality rock masses, the Generalized Hoek-Brown criterion can be
used

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

 Generalized Hoek-Brown
 According to the latest research, the parameters of the
Generalized Hoek-Brown criterion can be determined
from the equation on the right, where:
 GSI is the Geological Strength Index
 mi is a material constant for the intact rock
 the parameter D is a "disturbance factor" which
depends upon the degree of disturbance to which
the rock mass has been subjected by blast damage
and stress relaxation.
 It varies from 0 for undisturbed in situ rock
masses to 1 for very disturbed rock masses.

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Vertical Stress Ratio
 The shear strength at the base of each slice is determined by
multiplying the effective vertical (overburden) stress by a constant K
for the material

 The effective vertical stress is computed from the total weight of each
slice, and the pore pressure acting at the center of the base of each
slice.
 The "vertical stress ratio" K is simply a constant, equal to the ratio of
the shear strength to the vertical stress. (e.g. if K = 0.3, then the shear
strength will be 30 % of the effective vertical stress.)
Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.
Barton-Bandis
 Can be used to model the shear strength of a joint

where
 is the residual friction angle of the failure surface
 JRC is the joint roughness coefficient
 JCS is the joint wall compressive strength

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

 Power Curve
 Waviness is a parameter that can be included in
calculations of the shear strength of a joint or failure
plane.
 a, b, c are parameters typically
obtained from a least-squares  The waviness angle is equal to the AVERAGE dip of a
regression fit of data obtained from failure plane, minus the MINIMUM dip of the failure
small-scale shear tests plane. A non-zero waviness angle, will always
 d is the tensile strength increase the effective shear strength of the failure
 is the waviness angle plane.
 If you are NOT modeling the strength of a joint, then
you can simply set the waviness angle = 0, and this
term in the Power Curve equation will NOT
contribute to the shear strength.

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Hyperbolic

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Hyperbolic
 The Hyperbolic shear strength model has been found to characterize
the shear strength of soil / geo-synthetic interfaces, and other types of
interfaces, such as:
 a concrete / soil interface
 a geotextile / soil interface
 You may wish to use the Hyperbolic shear strength model, to model
the failure mode of "direct sliding" along a GeoTextile / Soil interface.
In this case, you will have to define a narrow layer of soil along the
geotextile, and assign a material type which uses the Hyperbolic shear
strength model.

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Discrete Function
 Allows you to specify the shear strength at discrete x,y locations
throughout a material, and the shear strength at any point within the
material can then be interpolated
 Shear strength may be specified for either the undrained case
(cohesion only), or drained (cohesion and friction angle)
 Can choose from different interpolation methods
 If the material is Drained, the interpolation is performed independently for
cohesion and friction angle

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Discrete Function
 Can be exported and imported into different Slide files
 The function is displayed on the model by a symbol located at each x
and y location defined in the function

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Drained-Undrained
 Allows you to define a soil strength envelope which considers both
drained and undrained Mohr-Coulomb strength parameters
 Shear strength is defined in terms of effective stress parameters c’ and
phi’, up to a maximum value of shear strength defined by the
undrained cohesion Cu
 Cohesion can be defined as constant or varying with depth

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Drained-Undrained: Undrained
 Cohesion can be defined as:
 Constant throughout material
 F(Depth) – depth is measured from the top of the material layer to the center
of a slice base
 F(Datum) – depth is measured from a user-specified Datum (y-coordinate)
 Maximum undrained soil strength can be specified with the Cutoff
option

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Drained-Undrained: Drained
 Cohesion can be defined as:
 Constant
 F(Depth)
 F(Datum)
 F(undrained Cu) – drained cohesion is defined as a fraction of the undrained
Cu
 Cutoff option is not available for Drained
 Drained friction angle does NOT vary with depth

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

New Options in Slide v7
SHANSEP, Tensile Strength Cut-off, and Alternate Strength Type
SHANSEP Strength Model
 Stress History and Normalized Soil Engineering Properties
 Used for modeling undrained shear strength of certain clay soils (Ladd
and Foote, 1974)
 For a soil subjected to a given stress path, the following equation
describes the undrained shear strength:

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Stress History Type
 Can be based on
 Overconsolidation Ratio
 Preconsolidation Ratio

 The following options are available:

 Constant – a constant value of OCR or Pc is defined for the material
 By depth from upper material boundary – enter values of Depth and OCR or Pc.
 By elevation (y-coordinate) – enter values of Elevation and OPC or Pc

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Material Dependent Vertical Stress
 By default, the weight of all material above a given point will
contribute to the vertical effective stress at that point.
 If you wish, you can fully or partially exclude some materials from
contributing to the vertical effective stress.
 This is useful for excluding the weight of an added embankment material (for
example) from the vertical effective stress calculation, or for simulating the
staged addition of layered embankments

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Staged Embankment on Clay

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Staged Embankment on Clay
 An embankment is constructed in two lifts or layers, on a clay foundation. The
stability of the embankment is calculated immediately after construction of the
second/top lift. Excess pore pressure increases in the clay between end of
construction of the first lift and end of construction of the second lift are due to
the load transfer of the entire weight of the second lift to pore pressure.
 As a result, there is no effective stress increase in the clay due to the existence of
the second lift. However, in the time taken to complete the construction of the
second lift, excess pore pressures due to construction of the first lift have
dissipated by 30% in the clay foundation. As a result, the effective stresses in the
clay increase due to a load transfer of 30% of the weight of the first layer.

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Staged Embankment on Clay

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

 Material Dependent Vertical Stress
 30% of the weight of the first layer is
transferred to a vertical stress increase
in the clay foundation
 For the second lift, the entire weight of
the lift is transferred to an increase in
excess pore pressure and there is zero
increase in effective stress in the clay
foundation due to the addition of the
second lift.

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Short-Term Factor of Safety

FS=1.12

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Long-Term Factor of Safety
 Unchecking the “material dependent vertical stress option” means the
entire weights of the two lifts act to increase the effective vertical
stress within the foundation

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Long-Term Factor of Safety

FS=1.57

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Tensile Strength Cutoff
Tensile Strength Option
 The Tensile Strength option can be very useful for models which exhibit tensile
forces between slices or on the base of slices.
 Large tensile forces in limit equilibrium slope stability analysis usually lead to
incorrect solutions and/or numerical problems, and should generally be
avoided.
 The Tensile Strength option can be used to automatically eliminate tensile forces
by adjusting the local factor of safety on a slice, so that the effective normal stress
is zero on the base of the slice.
 If tensile forces exceed the tensile strength, a tension crack will automatically
be created for the slip surface.

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Material Models
 Tensile strength can be defined for the following strength models:
 Mohr-Coulomb
 Undrained (Phi=0)
 Anisotropic Strength
 Anisotropic Function
 Vertical Stress Ratio
 Discrete Function
 Anisotropic Linear
 SHANSEP

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

 Example: Results without option
 The thrust line gives the location of the
resultant interslice forces. The
important thing to observe here is that
FS=3.54 the thrust line extends outside of the
sliding mass. This generally indicates
that tension is present.

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

 Model with Manual Tension Crack

 This plot shows several key differences:

FS=0.735
 Where the failure surface intersects
the tension crack boundary, a
vertical tension crack forms that
extends to the ground surface
 The line of thrust is completely
inside the failure surface indicating
there is no tension in the soil mass
 The factor of safety has decreased
to about 0.735

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Model with Tensile Strength = 0

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

 Model with Tensile Strength = 0
 The factor of safety is 0.735, the same
as when the tension crack boundary
was used.
FS=0.74

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Comparison with RS2 Analysis

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Comparison with RS2 Analysis

The critical SRF of 0.76 is very similar to the factor of safety

of 0.73 obtained from Slide analysis.
Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.
Alternate Strength Type
Alternate Strength Type
 If your model includes a Water Table or
Piezo Line, you can specify a different
strength type to be used ABOVE the
assigned water surface for any given
material.
 Slide will use a different material
strength type above and below the
water table or piezo line, according to
your material selections

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Anisotropic material models
Plane of weakness theory

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Plane of weakness theory

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Anisotropy
 Slide allows you to simulate anisotropic materials by specifying
different strength properties in different directions

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Anisotropic Strength Models
1. Anisotropic Strength
2. Anisotropic Function
3. Anisotropic Linear
4. Generalized Anisotropic
5. Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

1. Anisotropic Strength
 Allows you to define Anisotropic strength properties for a soil or rock
mass, by defining cohesion and friction angle along two perpendicular
axes

 The axes do not have to be oriented horizontally and vertically, but can
be specified by an arbitrary angle

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

1. Anisotropic Strength
 Required strength parameters:
 Cohesion 1 and Phi 1 (cohesion and friction angle in 1-direction)
 Cohesion 2 and Phi 2 (cohesion and friction angle in 2-direction,
perpendicular to 1-direction)
 Angle (in degrees, measured counter-clockwise from the positive x-axis to the
1-direction)

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

1. Anisotropic Strength
 The cohesion and friction angle for any arbitrary plane is given by:

where α is the angle between the plane and the 1-direction

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

1. Anisotropic Strength

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

2. Anisotropic Function
 Allows you to define discrete angular ranges of slice base inclination,
each with its own cohesion and friction angle
 You can create, save, reuse, edit and delete Anisotropic Functions for
future use; these can be exported or imported

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

3. Anisotropic Linear (AL)
 Similar to the Anisotropic Strength

 Allows you to define a material with the following anisotropic strength

characteristics:
 Bedding plane cohesion and friction angle
 Rock mass cohesion and friction angle
 Angle of bedding plane from horizontal
 Parameters A and B which define a linear transition from bedding plane
strength to rock mass strength, with respect to shear plane orientation

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

3. Anisotropic Linear (AL)
 The 1-direction represents the orientation of the bedding planes, with
cohesion (c1) and friction angle (phi1).
 The 1-direction is defined by the bedding plane angle (the counter-
clockwise angle from horizontal to the bedding plane orientation)

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

3. Anisotropic Linear (AL)
 Based on the anisotropic input parameters, the cohesion and the
tangent of the friction angle can be computed for any plane
orientation

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

3. Anisotropic Linear (AL)
 Parameter A defines an angular range on either side of the bedding
plane orientation, for which the bedding plane shear strength only
applies (i.e. c1, phi1)

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

3. Anisotropic Linear (AL)
 Parameter B defines the angular range (B - A) over which the increase
from bedding plane to rock mass shear strength takes place

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

3. Anisotropic Linear (AL)
 Based on test simulations, the transition from bedding to rock mass
strength is not exactly linear. However, for simplification of input data,
linearity is assumed

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

3. Anisotropic Linear (AL)
 For orientations outside of the B range, the rock mass shear strength
only applies (i.e. c2, phi2)

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

3. Anisotropic Linear (AL)
 This model reportedly provides better estimates of anisotropic rock
mass strength for certain types of bedded rock mass formations,
compared to the Anisotropic Strength model

 This is due to the ability to model the rapid transition from bedding
plane strength to rock mass strength, as the shear plane angle deviates
from the bedding plane angle

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

3. Anisotropic Linear (AL)

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

4. Generalized Anisotropic
 Allows you to create a composite strength model, in which you can
assign any strength model in Slide to any range of slice base
orientations

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Directional strength
 You must determine the
most likely value of apparent
dip in the slope section, αa,
and its possible variation,
Δαa, for each discontinuity
set sub parallel to the slope
orientation
 If good structural data are
available, Δαa will usually be
about 5° - if data are
insufficient, it can be much
bigger
Ref. “Guidelines for Open Pit Slope Design” by John
Read and Peter Stacey

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Directional strength
 Some discontinuities may have
an alteration zone associated
with them which could be
weaker than the rock
 It is possible to include transition
zones with a strength between
those of the discontinuity and
the rock mass

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

5. Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear (SMAL)
 Based on the Anisotropic Linear strength model, with the following
additions:
 Allows you to define non-linear stress dependent strength envelopes for the
rock mass and bedding material
 Allows non-symmetric anisotropy

 Also assumes a linear transition between the bedding plane strength

and the rock mass strength

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

5. Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear (SMAL)

Normal symmetric anisotropy function from the

Anisotropic Linear model
Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.
5. Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear (SMAL)

Non-symmetric anisotropy function from the

Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear model
Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.
5. Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear (SMAL)
 You can define non-linear strength functions for the bedding and rock
mass, as follows:

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

5. Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear (SMAL)
 You can define non-linear strength functions for the bedding and rock
mass, as follows:

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

5. Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear (SMAL)
 You can define a strength function in one of two ways:
 Shear-Normal function
 Cohesion-Friction function
 By default you can define a Shear-Normal strength function by
entering Normal and Shear stress data in the grid
 Alternatively you can select the Cohesion-Friction function option, and
enter Normal stress, cohesion and friction data in the grid
 You can also import strength functions by selecting the Import button

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

5. Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear (SMAL)

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

5. Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear (SMAL)
 You can define non-linear strength functions for the bedding and rock
mass, as follows:

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

 5. Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear (SMAL)
 You can define non-linear strength functions for the bedding and
rock mass, as follows:

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

5. Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear (SMAL)
 Slide will use the Bedding Strength, Rock Mass Strength and
Anisotropy functions to determine the stress dependent shear
strength for any shear plane

 For any shear plane (i.e. slice base) at any orientation:

 The Bedding Strength Function defines the strength within the angular range
between A1 and A2 in the top figure
 The Rock Mass Strength Function defines the strength for angles outside of the
range defined by B1 and B2 in the top figure

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

5. Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear (SMAL)
 Shear-normal strength functions for the rock mass and bedding may
not always be readily available

 You can use RocData to convert other strength criteria envelopes

(Generalized Hoek-Brown failure criterion for rock mass and Barton-
Bandis strength model) into shear-normal functions

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Example 9 – Slope Limits
 Open Example 9.1 GA
 Open Example 9.2 AL

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Example
 We will set up two materials, and then a third which is an anisotropic
combination of the two

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Soil Mass Properties

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Bedding Properties

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Anisotropic Material

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Anisotropy
 Since there is no anisotropic function presently available, we will
define our own in terms of Material 1 and 2

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Example
 This material is then assigned to the geometry above
 A circular surface with an auto-refining search is chosen

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Interpret

 If you query each slice, you will

notice that the ones near the
toe of the slope are the bedding
material, and the rest are the
soil mass

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Interpret

 If you query each slice, you will

notice that the ones near the
toe of the slope are the bedding
material, and the rest are the
soil mass

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Failure Surface
 Because of the weak bedding plane, it is likely that portions of the
failure surface would tend to follow the bedding in a sub-horizontal
direction

 By forcing a circular failure surface, we are probably over-estimating

the factor of safety

 We can easily test this by specifying a non-circular failure surface and

observing the results

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Failure Surface

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Interpret

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Interpret
 This gives a lower factor of safety than the circular surface search

 This shows the importance of using a non-circular failure surface in

anisotropic models since the failure surface ‘seeks out’ the weak
bedding orientation to yield a lower factor of safety

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Example
 We will look at the effect directional
strength using a 200m rock slope with a 55°
inclination, a 20m deep tension crack, and
dry conditions

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Without discontinuity sets
 If there are not discontinuity sets, the factor of safety is 1.29

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

With discontinuity sets
 Single discontinuity dipping 65° towards the
pit, the rock mass strength becomes
directional and the factor of safety = 1.28

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

With discontinuity sets
 Discontinuity set dips 35° towards the pit, FS = 0.98

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

With discontinuity sets
 If the two discontinuity sets both occur at once, then FS decreases to
0.9

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

5. Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear (SMAL)
1. Make sure the Generalized Hoek-Brown failure criterion is selected
in the RocData project settings

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

5. Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear (SMAL)

2. Enter the values for sigci, GSI, mi,

and D

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

5. Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear (SMAL)

3. In the Failure Envelope Range,

enter a Custom Application and
a value of sig3 max for your
slope. The resulting shear stress
versus normal stress envelope
should cover the range of
effective normal stresses you
anticipate on all possible failure
surfaces

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

5. Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear (SMAL)
4. Export the file

5. Repeat this procedure using the Barton-Brandis strength criterion

instead

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

5. Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear (SMAL)
6. In Slide, when defining the Shear-
Normal functions for the Snowden
Modified Anisotropic model, use the
Import option to import the Shear-
Normal function files saved

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

5. Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear (SMAL)

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Nonlinear Strength in Slide

 Shear/Normal Function
 Allows user to define an
arbitrary shear/normal
function to establish a
non-linear Mohr-
Coulomb strength
envelope
 In RocData convert
Hoek-Brown to
Shear/Normal function
to speed up probability
analysis

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Snowden Anisotropic Slope Model

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Example
 Four different anisotropic materials on top of an isotropic basement
 Each anisotropic material has multiple instances with different angles
 These instances all have the same anisotropic functions with
difference angles

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Example

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Basement

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

McRae Shale

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Interpret

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Interpret

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Interpret

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Slide3
Generalized Anisotropic Multi-Material Example
Generalized Anisotropic Strength
The Generalized Anisotropic Strength model allows you to define Anisotropic
strength properties for a material using any combination of failure criteria applied
over user defined orientations. There are two methods of defining the anisotropy:
 Dip/DipDirection - you can define one or more planes of anisotropy, with 3-
dimensional orientation defined by Dip and DipDirection, OR
 Surface - you can define a general 3D anisotropic surface (e.g. to follow the
orientation of folded bedding strata).
Each anisotropic plane or surface can be assigned its own failure criterion, within a
specified angular range defined by A and B parameters. The rock mass is also
assigned a failure criterion. The strength of any failure plane through the anisotropic
material can then be calculated, using a linear interpolation method, as described
later.
Defining Generalized Anisotropic
Strength using Dip/Dip Direction
Step 1: Starting the model
 Open Slide3 model file “Gen Aniso Multi - Starting File.slide3dmodel”
 This file has the relevant project settings and material properties
File > Save As…
 Save the project as a “Gen Aniso Multi–Dip-Dip Dir.slide3dmodel”
 This new file is the one to be edited for the first part of the tutorial
Step 2: Defining generalized anisotropic strength
Materials > Define Materials
Select material “Sub A”
 Failure Criterion: “Generalized Anisotropic”
Select Edit functions
 In Define Generalized Strength Function dialog:
 Name: Anisotropic Linear (Sub A)
 Base Material: Base Material
 Anisotropy Definition: Dip/Dip Direction
 Points: Dip = 12, Dip Direction = 90, A = 5, B = 10, Material = Bedding Material

Select OK
Ensure material Sub A has Generalized Function: Anisotropic Linear (Sub A)
Step 2: Defining generalized anisotropic strength
Select material “Sub B”
 Failure Criterion: “Generalized Anisotropic”
Select Edit functions
 In Define Generalized Strength Function dialog:
 Select Add new function
 Name: Anisotropic Linear (Sub B)
 Base Material: Base Material
 Anisotropy Definition: Dip/Dip Direction
 Points: Dip = 25, Dip Direction = 90, A = 5, B = 10, Material = Bedding Material

Select OK
Ensure material Sub B has Generalized Function: Anisotropic Linear (Sub B)
Step 2: Defining generalized anisotropic strength
Select material “Sub C”
 Failure Criterion: “Generalized Anisotropic”
Select Edit functions
 In Define Generalized Strength Function dialog:
 Select Add new function
 Name: Anisotropic Linear (Sub C)
 Base Material: Base Material
 Anisotropy Definition: Dip/Dip Direction
 Points: Dip = 2, Dip Direction = 90, A = 5, B = 10, Material = Bedding Material

Select OK. Ensure material Sub C has Generalized Function: Anisotropic

Linear (Sub C)
Select OK to finish editing material properties.
Defining generalized anisotropic strength
Dip/Dip Direction Definition

Base Material Strength

You can add multiple Angular Range Anisotropic Strength

anisotropic planes

NOTE: Y-axis = North, model must be oriented in its true direction with respect
to North, or else the anisotropic plane orientations will be incorrect.
 Definition of A and B Parameters
One column in the model
Example:

3D orientation can be represented by Stereonet.

Pole to Anisotropic Plane

Normal vector at base of each column is used
to determine the column strength parameters Top View
Anisotropic Plane
The A and B parameters define the angular radius of
two cones centered on the pole vector of the
anisotropic plane.

Essentially, any normal vector within a cone has an

angle to the Anisotropic Plane pole vector that is
equal to or less than the angular radius. This defines Front View Side View
three regions for selecting the appropriate strength
parameters depending on the column base normal
vector.
Definition of A and B Parameters
The angle of the Pole (normal vector) on the base of a column to the
normal vector of the Anisotropic Plane will determine the assigned
properties

If the normal vector of the column base

is WITHIN radius A of the normal vector of the
anisotropic plane, then the strength model selected for
the Anisotropic Plane is applied

If the normal vector of the column base

is OUTSIDE radius B of the normal vector of the
anisotropic plane, then the strength model selected for
the Base Material is applied

If the normal vector of the column base

is OUTSIDE radius A and WITHIN radius B, then the
strength applied is based on a linear transition between
the Anisotropic Plane strength and the Base
Material strength.
Step 3: Results
Select Compute. The process should take a few minutes to finish.

Slide 2D Analysis Slide3 3D Analysis

FS = 0.97 (Bishop) FS = 1.49 (Bishop)
FS = 0.92 (Janbu) FS = 1.46 (Janbu)
Defining Generalized Anisotropic
Strength using Surfaces
Defining generalized anisotropic strength
Surface Definition
The Anisotropy Definition = Surface option allows you to assign a surface which
corresponds to the mean orientation of a non-planar anisotropic region. For
example as illustrated in the 2D figure below. For simplicity this is illustrated in 2D
however the actual surface is 3-dimensional. If a column base intersects the
anisotropic region, the closest normal vector on the surface to the base will be used
to assign the appropriate properties

NOTE: You may still define an angular range using A and B parameters in the same way as shown previously.
Only ONE anisotropic surface can be assigned to a Generalized Anisotropic material.
Example 10 – Gen Aniso by Surface
 Open Example 10 Gen Aniso by Surface

Material Models in Slide – © 2017 Rocscience Inc.

Step 4: Modify model - Anisotropic Region by Surface
File > Save As > “Gen Aniso Multi–Surface.slide3model”
Geometry > Draw Tools > Draw Polyline
 Plane Orientation: ZX
 Select Edit Table. Toggle 2D mode off to get XYZ table entry. Do one of the following:
 Method 1: Select Import: “Aniso Polyline [Link]”
 Method 2: Select Append Rows and select Ok. Enter the following coordinates:
X Y Z
0 0 250
170.4 0 213.8
457.5 0 79.9
700 0 71.5
 Select OK
Right-click and select Done.
Select Polyline1 from the Visibility Tree.
Geometry > Extrude/Sweep/Loft Tools > Extrude
 Depth = 700
Step 4: Modify model - Anisotropic Region by Surface
Select Polyline1_extruded from the Visibility Tree.
Surfaces > Anisotropic Regions > Add Anisotropic Region by Surface
Step 5: Define anisotropic properties using Surface
Materials > Define Material Properties > Add new property
 Name: Sub
 Unit Weight: 26 kN/m3
 Failure Criterion: Generalized Anisotropic
Select Edit Functions under Generalized Function options
Step 5: Define anisotropic properties using Surface
 In Define Generalized Strength Function dialog:
 Select Add new function
 Name: Anisotropic Surface
 Base Material: Base Material
 Anisotropy Definition: Surface
 Points: Surface=Anisotropic Surface 1, A = 5, B = 10, Material = Bedding Material

Select OK to create the new anisotropic function. Select OK to create the new material type Sub.
Step 6: Assign Anisotropic Material
Select the center 3 materials representing the anisotropic material. In the Properties
pane change the Applied Property to Sub.
We have eliminated the need for three different materials and anisotropic functions
where the only difference was the dip angle
Step 3: Results
Select Compute. The process should take a few minutes to finish.

Slide 2D Analysis Slide3 3D Analysis (Dip/Dip Direction Method) Slide3 3D Analysis (Surface Method)
FS = 0.97 (Bishop) FS = 1.49 (Bishop) FS = 1.53 (Bishop)
FS = 0.92 (Janbu) FS = 1.46 (Janbu) FS = 1.48 (Janbu)
End of Module