Now freeware provided at no cost and with no time or size restrictions
No CPU limits
Simplified user interface and workflow
Specifically designed to perform multiple analyses and parametric studies for slope stability projects
Failure mode develops naturally – no need to specify a slip surface or failure mechanism
Predict multiple, interacting failure mechanisms (failures can propagate)
Structural interaction (e.g., rock bolt, soil nail, or geogrid) is modeled realistically as fully coupled deforming elements, not simply as LEM equivalent forces
Extensive solution controls and options
Multi-threaded mechanical calculations
Built-in PDF manual and example files
Cable structural elements can be used to represent soil nails, rock bolts, or geosynthetic sheets. Axial forces and the surface failure location are plotted. Slope FoS is 0.92 without reinforcement and 1.23 for geogrids with a bond cohesion of 10 kN/m.
Grid and Geometry
Wizards for generating slope, bench, dam, and general surface grids
Automatic and customizable meshing tools
Materials and Models
Mohr-Coulomb, Hoek-Brown, and Ubiquitous joint materials are available
Built-in materials library includes gravel, sand, silt, clay, and rock properties
Add, save, edit, and import/export your own material properties with the library
Easily define geotechnical layers
FLAC/Slope model with a thin weak layer. A study of the ratio of cohesive strength (weak layer vs. surrounding soil) of 1.0, 0.6 (shown), and 0.2 showed FoS of 1.45, 1.37, and 0.54. For the 0.2 case the failure was confined to the thin weak layer only.
Boundaries and Conditions
Automatic boundary conditions
Apply stresses (Sxx, Sxy, Syy, normal, shear, and pressure) and forces (Fx, Fy)
Cable structural support elements can be added as geosynthetic sheets or spaced (out-of-plane) ground reinforcement to simulate ground-structure interaction.
Easily add a water table to include pore pressures for effective stress calculations
Add a Mohr-Coulomb interface to represent a weak plane for faults, joints, or artificial boundaries
User-defined gravity settings
Solutions
Plane strain or axisymmetric analysis
Automatic FoS calculations using the shear strength reduction (SSR) method
Structural support elements, materials, and interface properties can be included or excluded as part of the FoS calculation
Exclude model regions from the FoS calculation to capture the global failure
Pseudostatic analysis with constant horizontal and/or vertical accelerations to represent an earthquake
FLAC/Slope model records can be saved and imported into FLAC for additional analysis
Export model plots as bitmap, postscript, and DXF formats
Generate an HTML report with material, interface, and structural element property tables and solution table
Optionally show resources to:
View all of the background FLAC commands generated as you create and run models
Query the model using FLAC commands
Compare runs using different parameters, and even compare results from different projects
FLAC/Slope model of dam showing the model view (top); water table, pore pressures, and applied forces to represent the water head above the dam (middle); and the resulting maximum shear strain rates and velocity vectors with a FoS of 2.45 calculated.