Use of geo studio in geotechnical engineering

USE OF GEO STUDIO IN GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING

Abdulrahim Saad

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Introduction

Geotechnical engineering is a branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering properties of earth materials. Geotechnical engineers are concerned with properties of rocks and soil below the ground to in designing of foundations for houses and bridges. Computer programs help designers with important and useful designing tools. Geo Studio is a product is a geotechnical modeling suite. In this paper we will the pros and cons of the advent of using computer software to geotechnical engineering. 

Computer software and geotechnical engineering

Geo Studio is integrated software used for running the leading suite of geotechnical modeling software products like: SLOPE/W, TEMP/W, AIR/W and QUAKE/W. This software is used to primarily analyze the stability of the earth but can also be used to build numerical models that are hard to construct geometrically. Geo Studio has some features like multiple analysis, meshing, network licensing improvements and updated sketch text. Bit has also some the AIR/W product to help users increase the type of problems that can be analyzed to ease geotechnical problems.[1]

The use of Computer Aided Teaching in Geotechnical Engineering has been developed to operate in windows providing the user with greater flexibility with regard to output and input. The software has the advantage of checking user changes to mesh element properties if the mesh is regenerated. Most software are cheaper nowadays and easier to use.[2] Some of this software includes XSTABL, GSLOPE and SLIDE. XSTABL is a DOS based program which gives good graphical output. It is ease to input data and has a good help feature and it is relatively cheap. GSLOPE is windows based and user friendly. Only disadvantage is that it is roughly expensive. SLIDE is a complex and comprehensive program which can do detailed problems and can also be used to back-analysis of a problem that has failed. SLIDE also has different ways of analyzing a slope. The disadvantage of the software is that it is expensive.[3]

Like any other programs, these programs cannot be expected to fully model the true physical conditions of a project. The software is expensive and hard to understand especially by beginners.

Conclusions

Computer aided teaching in geotechnical engineering operate in both windows and DOS operating systems. Students’ learning and success is dependent on good quality software. Different software are available in the market most of which are user friendly. The main disadvantage of software is the prohibitive price.

References

Geo Studio 2007. Retrieved from: http://geostudio-2007.software.informer.com/

Nadgouda K. (2007). Building firm foundations. Slope stability software. Retrieved from: https://kshitija.wordpress.com/2007/01/04/slope-stability-software/

Software tools for geotechnical solutions. Retrieved from: http://www.geo-slope.com/