Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Project Settings
Deterministic Analysis
Input Data
Wedge View
Viewing Options
Analysis Results
Info Viewer
Stereonet View
Water Pressure
External Force
Seismic Force
Sensitivity Analysis
Introduction
LEGEND
1 , 2 = Failure planes (2
intersecting joint sets)
3 = Upper ground surface
4 = Slope face
5 = Tension crack
H1 = Slope height (vertical
distance) referred to
plane 1
L = Distance of tension
crack from crest,
measured along the
trace of plane 1.
one of the planes overlies the other (this affects the calculation of
the normal reactions on the plane).
one of the planes lies to the right or the left of the other plane
when viewed from the bottom of the slope.
Allowance has been made for one of the planes overlying the other
(this is illustrated in Figure 2)
A check on whether the two planes can form a wedge is included in the
solution at an early stage. In addition, Swedge also examines how the
tension crack intersects the other planes, accepting only those cases
where the tension crack truncates the wedge in a kinematically
admissible manner.
In all cases, the assumed failure mode of the wedge is translational slip
rotational slip and toppling are not taken into account.
Figure 2: Situation where wedge is formed, and one plane overlies the other.
If you have not already done so, run the Swedge program by double-
clicking on the Swedge icon in your installation folder. Or from the Start
menu, select Programs Rocscience Swedge 6.0 Swedge.
Whenever a new file is created, the default input data will form a valid
wedge, as shown in Figure 3.
NOTE: the automatic creation of a new file when Swedge is started, can
be turned on or off in the Preferences dialog in the File menu.
Notice the four-view, split screen format of the display, which shows Top,
Front, Side and Perspective views of the model. This is referred to as the
Wedge View. The Top, Front and Side views are orthogonal with respect
to each other (i.e. viewing angles differ by 90 degrees.)
Project Settings
The Project Settings option allows you to configure the main analysis
parameters for your model (i.e. Analysis Type, Units etc). Select Project
Settings from the toolbar or the Analysis menu.
Analysis Type
There are three main Analysis Types in Swedge Deterministic,
Probabilistic or Combinations. By default a Deterministic Analysis
will be selected for a new file.
Units
For this tutorial we will be using Metric (MPa) units, so make sure the
Metric, stress as MPa option is selected for Units.
NOTE: the most recently selected Units option automatically becomes the
default for all new files, so you do not have to select the Units each time
you start a project. Make sure you are working in the correct units!
Project Summary
Select the Project Summary tab in the Project Settings dialog.
NOTE:
You can specify the Author and Company in the Preferences dialog
in the File menu, so that this information always appears by default
in the Project Summary in Project Settings, for new files.
Input Data
The Input Data option is the main input data dialog for Swedge. Lets
see what input data is used for the default Swedge model.
Examine the Slope properties input data. The slope plane orientations,
slope height and rock unit weight is always required data. Other slope
input data is optional. Do not change any values just yet, we will be
coming back to this shortly.
Select the Joints tab in the Input Data dialog and examine the Joint
information. There are three strength models available for defining the
shear strength of joints Mohr- Coulomb, Barton-Bandis and Power
Curve. By default the Mohr-Coulomb strength model is selected.
TIP: you can minimize or maximize the Input Data dialog, without
closing it, by double-clicking on the title bar at the top of the dialog, or
selecting the arrow icon in the upper right corner.
Select the Forces tab in the Input Data dialog. The Forces options allow
you to apply Water Pressure, Seismic or External Forces. We will be
demonstrating these options later in the tutorial.
NOTE: for detailed information about all Swedge input data options, see
the Swedge help system. To access the Help system, you can select the
question mark ? icon in a dialog for context sensitive help. Or you can
select Help > Help Topics from the Swedge menu.
Analysis Results
This ensures that the latest analysis results are always displayed.
TIP: if you right-click in the wedge information panel the data can be
copied to the clipboard with the right-click Copy shortcut.
Info Viewer
To access the Info Viewer, select the Info Viewer option from the toolbar
or the Analysis menu.
Use the scroll bar or the mouse wheel to scroll down and view all of the
data in the Info Viewer.
The Info Viewer data can be copied to the clipboard or saved to a file
using the options in the right-click popup menu. This is left as an
optional exercise.
Close the Info Viewer by selecting the X in the upper right corner of the
view.
Stereonet View
To access the Stereonet view, select the Stereonet option from the
toolbar or the Analysis menu.
The Stereonet display options are also available in the Stereonet sub-
menu of the View menu, and in the Display Options dialog.
Viewing Options
Switch back to the Wedge View by selecting the Wedge View option from
the toolbar or the Analysis menu.
We will now discuss some of the viewing options and shortcuts for the
Wedge View.
1. Press and hold the left mouse button anywhere in the Perspective
view. Notice that the cursor changes to a "circular arrow" symbol
to indicate that you may rotate the model.
2. Keep the left mouse button pressed, and move the cursor around.
The model is rotated according to the direction of movement of
the cursor.
3. To exit the rotation mode, release the left mouse button. The
cursor reverts to the normal arrow cursor.
To reset the rotation to the default viewing angle, select Reset View
from the right-click menu or the View menu.
The wedge can also be moved by rotating the mouse wheel while holding
down the Shift or Ctrl keys on the keyboard:
1. If you hold down the Shift key and rotate the mouse wheel, the
wedge movement will be larger.
2. If you hold down the Ctrl key and rotate the mouse wheel, the
wedge movement will be smaller.
Any of these options will reset the wedge to its default position within the
slope.
You can also re-size the 4-view display by clicking and dragging
on the vertical or horizontal dividers between the panes.
TIP: if you have re-sized the panes and you want to quickly restore the
default display, double-click in any pane to maximize the view, then
double-click again to restore the default display.
Zoom All reset the model to its default size and location in the
view
Pan translate the model left, right, up or down within the view
The zoom and pan options are available in the toolbar, the Zoom sub-
menu of the View menu, and through various keyboard and mouse
shortcuts. Shortcuts include:
For additional shortcuts see the Zoom and Pan topic in the Swedge Help
system.
Select the Slope tab in the Input Data dialog and enter the following
data.
Slope Height 20
Slope Dip 65
Slope Dip Direction 45
Upper Face Dip 10
Upper Face Dip Direction 45
Unit Weight (MN/m3) 0.027
Select the Joints tab in the Input Data dialog and enter the following
data.
Joint 1 Dip 45
Joint 1 Dip Direction 52
Joint 1 Cohesion (MPa) 0.025
Joint 1 Friction Angle 30
Joint 2 Dip 70
Joint 2 Dip Direction 18
Joint 2 Cohesion (MPa) 0
Joint 2 Friction Angle 35
NOTE: the Joint Waviness angle accounts for the waviness (undulations)
of a joint surface, observed over distances on the order of 1 m to 10 m,
and has the effect of increasing the shear strength of the joint. For more
information see the Swedge Help system. We will leave the Waviness
angle = 0 for this example.
Sliding Plane
Notice that the analysis summary in the Sidebar indicates the failure
mode as Sliding on Joint 1. Due to the geometry of this wedge, the
failure mode is sliding on one joint, rather than sliding on both joints (i.e.
along the line of intersection of joints 1 and 2.)
This is consistent with the wedge geometry, since Joint Set 2 dips at 70
degrees and has a cohesion of zero, and therefore has little influence on
the wedge stability.
Water Pressure
By default, Water Pressure is NOT applied to an Swedge model, and the
analysis is therefore applicable to a DRY slope.
1. Select Input Data. Select the Forces tab in the Input Data
dialog, and select the Water Pressure checkbox.
2. Select the Water Pressure Type (we will use the Filled Fissures
option for this example, with default Hu=1).
Notice that arrows representing the Water Pressure force are displayed
normal to the wedge failure planes.
External Force
Now lets add a single External Force, in a direction such that it will help
to stabilize the wedge.
3. Select OK. The Safety Factor (with Water Pressure still applied)
increases to 0.73 (still an unstable wedge).
Figure 17: Display of water and external forces on wedge (side view).
NOTE: the force arrows which are displayed, represent the presence and
direction of an external force, but do NOT represent the magnitude (i.e.
the size of the arrows is NOT proportional to force magnitude.)
Seismic Force
Now we will include Seismic Force in the analysis.
Figure 18: Display of water, external and seismic forces on wedge (side view).
Sensitivity Analysis
We will use Sensitivity Analysis to show that the worst possible direction
to apply a Seismic Force, is the sliding direction of the wedge.
1. Select Input Data and turn OFF the Water Pressure by clearing
the Water Pressure checkbox. Also turn OFF the External force,
by setting Number of External Forces = 0. Only the Seismic force
checkbox should remain selected. Select OK.
Figure 19: Sensitivity plot of seismic force trend versus safety factor.
As you can clearly see from the graph, the minimum factor of safety
occurs when Seismic Force Trend = 52 degrees, which is the wedge failure
direction (and the Dip Direction of Joint 1).
Although the wedge failure direction is often the most critical direction in
which to apply a seismic force, this may vary depending on the presence
of other external forces (e.g. water pressure, support etc) and the strength
properties of the individual failure planes.