Introducing RS3

A New 3D Program for Geotechnical Analysis

RS3 is a completely new program, the product of 10 years of research and development at Rocscience, which is equally applicable to both rock and soil. In terms of analysis programs for soil, RS3 complements Rocscience programs Slide, Settle3D, and Phase2, which have been widely used for soils for many years. The following are some of the analysis capabilities of RS3: Tunnel design Excavation design Surface excavations Excavation support Groundwater seepage analysis Coupled stress / pore pressure analysis Slope stability

The remainder of this article illustrates the applications of RS3 that are particularly useful for the users of the other Rocscience soil analysis programs.

Model Geometry
In RS3, a 3-dimensional model geometry is built up by creating a series of extruded 2-dimensional slices. Excavation and material boundaries can be defined independently for each slice, allowing you to easily create complex 3D models from a series of extruded 2D slices. The direction of extrusion is either horizontal or vertical. The Tunnel Mode is used for models that have a primary Figure 1: concrete slab on non-horizontal soil strata horizontal axis. The Foundation Mode is used for models with a primary vertical axis. Each slice has a user-defined thickness, and can be subdivided further into thinner partitions for more detailed sequencing if necessary. With an assembly of extruded 2D slices, the soil strata layout can change along the direction of the extrusion and complex soil profiles can be modeled. Figure 1 illustrates a simple concrete slab on a non-horizontal soil strata. In comparison to Settle3D, where the soil layers are horizontal and continuous, in RS3 complex soil profiles can be modeled. In addition, Phase2 model geometries and DXF files can be imported into RS3, which increases the ease with which models can be constructed.

Staging and Sequencing

RS3 offers complete flexibility for staging of excavations, support installation, loading, and all other modeling aspects, and models with hundreds of different stages can be analyzed with RS3. Staging assignments can be defined manually, or the Sequence Designer can be used. The Sequence Designer is particularly useful for excavations and support installation. In Settle3D, when modeling an excavation, the actual 3-dimensional stress, displacement, and groundwater (pore pressure) distribution due to the excavation is not computed. In RS3, Rocscience offers a fully coupled stress / pore pressure analysis using Biot Theory. This is discussed more in the next section.

Figure 3: Supported Excavation modeled in RS3

Figure 2: Liner (left) and bolt (right) displacement results can be examined

Groundwater
Complex seepage and settlement analyses can be performed in RS3. Steady state or transient groundwater flow can be analyzed. The groundwater analysis is fully integrated with all other aspects of the program, and can be carried out in conjunction with stress analysis or independently. For soil effective stress analysis and consolidation, fully coupled stress / pore pressure analysis using Biot Theory is incorporated into RS3. This is important for modeling cases where the interaction of stress and pore pressure are critical, such as embankment consolidation.

Figure 4: Model for transient seepage analysis

Figure 5: Pressure head during transient seepage analysis

Figure 6: Excess pore pressure ratio diagram for linear model

Figure 7: Raft with pilesmodel (left) and pile axial forces (right)

Slope Stability
In RS3, a 3D slope stability analysis can be carried out by manual reduction of shear strength parameters. The RS3 slope stability analysis functionality complements the slope stability capabilities of both Slide and Phase2. Again, in RS3, a non-horizontal soil strata in the extruded direction can be specified, allowing for complex soil profiles to be modeled. Like in Slide and Phase2, slope support can be modeled in RS3 if desired.

Figure 8: Three-dimensional SSR slope stability analysismodel (left) and total slope displacement (right)

Results and Data Visualization

In terms of results, RS3 offers a number of options for displaying the stresses, displacements, strains, flow vectors, etc.: Contour results on excavation surfaces Contour results on any user-defined viewing planes Plot results along any lines Plot differential results between stages