We are working on a solution for this.

Currently, we do not have a full proof workaround available. Sometimes the prestressed anchor might be properly connected and sometimes not. Removing the connected interface may help in some cases.
Whenever you use this prestressed anchor connected to plate elements, please make sure to check the force transfer between anchor and plate and verify that it is properly connected during this prestress phase.

The post Prestress force for anchors may not always be applied to a plate element in PLAXIS 3D 2018 appeared first on Plaxis.

PLAXIS 2019

Since PLAXIS 2D 2019, the Input program has an improved way of modelling soil layers. As an addition to the “Modify Soil Layers” window, the soil stratigraphy is now also available in the model explorer under “Stratigraphy”. The “Boreholes” group is now also moved here. Users can, for example, change the layer thickness or top and bottom depths directly via the Model explorer, instead of only relying on the “Modify Soil Layers” window. The changes are also reflected in the command line, giving users who use Python scripting a better structure to access the soil layers information in the model.

With the new PLAXIS 2019 implementation, we have introduced a new item called Stratigraphy which is split into two parts: Boreholes and Soil layers:

• Under the Borehole group, all the different boreholes are stored with some relevant information (e.g. location of the borehole, water head etc).
• Under the Soil layers group, the horizontal soil layers are stored with their height for the different boreholes.

The Python script below shows how to return a list of dictionaries with the following relevant info: soil layer's name, top, bottom and thickness.

def get_borehole_layers(borehole):
    """ reads the borehole information to collect soillayer thickness
        information and returns a dictionary per layer top-down """
    borehole_layers = []
    for soillayer in g_i.Soillayers:
        for zone in soillayer.Zones:
            if (zone.Borehole.value) == borehole:
                borehole_layers.append({"name": soillayer.Name.value,
                                        "top": zone.Top.value,
                                        "bottom": zone.Bottom.value,
                                        "thickness": zone.Thickness.value
                                        }
                                       )
    return borehole_layers

boreholelayers = get_borehole_layers(g_i.Borehole_1)

for boreholelayer in boreholelayers:
    print(boreholelayer)

When using this code for 2D's Tutorial Lesson 2, this will be the result:

  Python response in interpreter 


>>> 
{'name': 'Soillayer_1', 'bottom': 0, 'thickness': 20, 'top': 20}
{'name': 'Soillayer_2', 'bottom': -30, 'thickness': 30, 'top': 0}
>>>

Soil layer in previous PLAXIS versions

In older versions (e.g. PLAXIS 2D 2018, 3D 2018) the information was only stored in the
Borehole object.

In each borehole, the information is stored for the different soil layers and their height. The Python script below returns a list of dictionaries with the relevant info: the soil layer's name, top, bottomand thickness.
The Soillayers will be sorted top-down.

import re

def get_borehole_layers(borehole):
    results = []
    for line in borehole.echo().splitlines():
        # Try to match something like:
        # "Layer 4: From -19 to -21 (thickness = 2)"
        m = re.search('(Layer .*): From (.*) to (.*) \(thickness = (.*)\)',
                      line)
        if m is not None:
            results.append({'name': m.group(1),
                            'top': float(m.group(2)),
                            'bottom': float(m.group(3)),
                            'thickness': float(m.group(4))})
    return results


# for a model with at least two soil layers
print(get_borehole_layers(g_i.Borehole_1)[1]) # prints the dict
print(get_borehole_layers(g_i.Borehole_1)[1]["top"]) # prints the top level value

The script uses the re module for regular expressions.

Version

The first example was made with PLAXIS 2D 2019.00 using Python 3.4.x.

The above examples are made with PLAXIS 2D 2017.00 and PLAXIS 3D 2016.02 using Python 3.4.x.

The post Retrieving soil layer info from boreholes using Python appeared first on Plaxis.

This document describes a validation example for the PISA design method, implemented in PLAXIS MoDeTo, for monopiles embedded in a clay soil. This validation example is based on the results obtained from the pile tests conducted at the Cowden site during the PISA project. The close fit between the PLAXIS MoDeTo model and the field data demonstrates the effectiveness of the calibration process.

The post Validation report of PLAXIS MoDeTo based on the Cowden clay PISA field tests appeared first on Plaxis.

This document describes a validation example for the PISA design method, implemented in PLAXIS MoDeTo, for monopiles embedded in dense sand. This validation example is based on the soil conditions at the Dunkirk site that was employed during the PISA project. The calibrated PLAXIS MoDeTo model is shown to provide a close representation of the performance of a pile with arbitrary dimensions, within the calibration space.

The post Validation report of PLAXIS MoDeTo based on the Dunkirk sand PISA field tests appeared first on Plaxis.

Sometimes you have polycurves in a PLAXIS 2D model (e.g. after importing a DXF file) that are just the outlines of the desired shape. But typically, the intention is to have polygons instead of these polycurves, so you can assign soil materials to these areas.

Conditions

This provided script will check for polycurves that can be made into polygons based on the following:

• The polycurve consists of only lines, not arcs or other types
• The polycurve is closed (i.e. same start and end coordinate)
• The to-be-made-polygon does not yet exist

The script offers the user the possibility to generate these polygons and optionally delete the original polycurves.

Usage instructions for Python script

To use this Python script:

• Download the file (use Save As...);
• copy the polycurve_to_polygon_2D.py file to this folder:
  <PLAXIS 2D installation folder>\pytools\input
  When using the default installation folder for PLAXIS 2D, this would be
  C:\Program Files\Plaxis\Plaxis 2D\pytools\input
• Open a Plaxis file with some polycurves or import a .dxf file with polycurves
• Make sure you are in Structures mode
• In the Expert menu, go to Python > Run Python tool. Here you should see the name of Python file.
• When selecting it, it will execute the script to change all qualifying polycurves into polygons.

When you do not have access rights to add the script in this folder, alternatively, you can choose to use Expert menu > Run Python script > Open... to manually open and run the file.

Version

The script is tested with PLAXIS 2D 2018.00 and PLAXIS 2D 2019.00 with Python 3.4 using a simple DXF geometry file.

The post Polycurves to Polygons in PLAXIS 2D using Python appeared first on Plaxis.

PLAXIS phase calculations are divided into multiple steps to reach equilibrium for the defined phase configuration.

Normally, PLAXIS Output will only show you the results of the last step of the phase. When intermediate steps are saved, we can also inspect the results for these intermediate steps by using the Phase/All steps toggle button next to the Phase List in Output.

From there, we can visualize any calculation steps results.

Note, by default, PLAXIS will only save the last step of each phase, and subsequently, we can only see one step per phase: the last step. To store these intermediate steps, we need to increase the Max number of steps stored. This can be set in the Phase window under the Numerical control parameters.

Tip: In this article explaining the apply command you can find an example for a macro to apply this in one go for all phases.

The post Inspect intermediate step results in PLAXIS Output appeared first on Plaxis.

In PLAXIS, all material datasets are stored in a single listable called Materials. This includes all soil material datasets, but also all material datasets for the structural datasets like plates, geogrids, beams and anchors.

With Python, when looping over all material datasets, you might just want to get e.g. all plate material datasets. For this, we can use the property .TypeName to know what type of material it is.

For example, you can use this to create a list of just plate materials in PLAXIS 2D

platematerials = [mat for mat in g_i.Materials[:] if mat.TypeName.value == 'PlateMat2D']

The post Material lists in PLAXIS – Python appeared first on Plaxis.

The suggested workaround for the issue with the Tunnel designer is only applicable if the project is not reloaded during the process since this is when the issue occurs.

1. Switch to Structures mode
2. Select the relevant tunnel and use the right mouse button to Edit it
3. In the Tunnel designer switch to Sequencing mode
4. Select the tunnel phase step in which the assignment of a material in a volume is shown as: <not assigned>
5. Edit the material to the desired data set
6. Select to Close the Tunnel designer
   Note that there is no need to Generate the tunnel or Generate tunnel phases unless changes in other modes are included.
7. Switch to Staged construction mode and define any new phases
   Note that any existing phases will be automatically regenerated according to the material selected in step 5.

Be aware that the above steps are required every time you reload the project when it is needed to add new phases in Staged construction or edit the current tunnel definitions.

This issue will be fixed in the next major release of PLAXIS 3D.

The post Tunnel designer loses material assignments after loading project in 3D 2018 appeared first on Plaxis.

PLAXIS has implemented more constitutive models to model time-dependent behaviour (i.e. creep and relaxation).

One of such models is the visco-elastic perfectly plastic model, where a maximum of 4 Kelvin-Voigt elements (i.e. a spring and a dashpot connected in parallel) are used to simulate isotropic visco-elastic behaviour, while the onset of perfect plasticity is defined by the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. This constitutive model has been implemented as a user-defined model.
Alternatively, for soft soil, the Soft Soil Creep model can be used to account for its time-dependent response.

We are working on a solution.

The post Concrete model in 3D 2018 exhibits no creep deformations appeared first on Plaxis.

The PLAXIS Viewers are standalone programs and offer you and your clients the ability to view calculated PLAXIS 2D and PLAXIS 3D projects without the need of a licence.

The PLAXIS Viewer is part of your PLAXIS installation starting PLAXIS 2D 2016 and PLAXIS 3D AE.02. You will find the newest version of the PLAXIS Viewer in your installation directory (when you have installed the software). The Viewer works as a standalone application, so it can be copied to other locations or sent to your clients.

The PLAXIS Viewer can also be obtained by selecting the appropriate version and downloading it via these links below:

The post Plaxis Viewer – standalone program to view results appeared first on Plaxis.

We are working on a solution for this.

For now, please check the material set’s permeability settings.

When the hydraulic conductivity values k_x, k_y and k_z (3D only) are not updated to your values, please follow these steps:

• Open the material dataset and go to the flow parameters tab sheet
• Verify the Flow parameters settings. When still set to From data set:
• Change the Use defaults value to From grain size distribution
• Click OK to make the changes
• Reopen the dataset
• Now set the Flow parameters – Use defaults value to None
• Fill in the hydraulic conductivity values k_x, k_y and k_z (3D only)
• Click OK to accept the changes

This will store the hydraulic permeabilities correctly.

See also the attached video

The post Permeability value change not stored when changing from From data set to None appeared first on Plaxis.

In PLAXIS 2D, you may want to know all the coordinates of a polygon in order to use it in your Python/scripting environment. When looking at the items in the Selection Explorer in the PLAXIS 2D User Interface when selecting such a polygon, we nicely see all the corner points with their coordinates. However, the internal structure of the polygon object stores these polygon-points as a combination of a base insertion point and a list of so-called HelperPoints (e.g. Polygon_1.Points). These HelperPoints are relative to this insertion point.

Figure 1. Selected polygon (right) with the polygon points on the right in the selection explorer

Attached here is a small snippet for extracting this as a list of (x, y)-tuples and returning this list to be used in your Python script.

def getpolygoncoords(pg):
    """ reads all coordinates of the specified polygon and returns a list """
    # get insertion point
    base_x = pg.x.value
    base_y = pg.y.value
    # loop over all HelperPoints and return coordinates
    return [(base_x + i.x.value, base_y + i.y.value) for i in pg.Points]

# EXAMPLE: now loop over all polygons to print all the coordinates
g_i.gotostructures()
for polygon in g_i.Polygons[:]:
    print("{}: {}".format(polygon.Name.value, getpolygoncoords(polygon)))

Note: this only works for Polygons in Structures mode, not for soil polygons created by a borehole.

The post Retrieve coordinates of a Polygon in PLAXIS 2D using Python appeared first on Plaxis.

In PLAXIS Input it is very common to use the mouse to perform actions. It is typical to select a point load to activate or multi-select polygons to assign a material data set. In this workflow, the selection of such Plaxis objects is important for the Input program.

With Python scripting, it is now possible to take advantage of the interactive selection of objects and pass them to the scripting layer for further usage.

The new feature is called selection and it allows to “integrate” with the PLAXIS Input program. With the selection API, you can access any selected entities which allows for even more automated procedures to be implemented.

How it works

In a Python script or the interpreter, you can access any selected-by-mouse entities using following:
g_i.selection

For example, the following allows printing the name of the geometric objects selected by mouse:

for item in g_i.selection: 
    print(item.Name) 

Note that the selection is an object which is in between a list and a set in Python: it cannot contain duplicate items, but it is ordering-sensitive. The order of the selected items may influence the commands to be executed following the rules of the native Plaxis command line.

The selection object behaves as a list in the Plaxis scripting environment.

Examples

To find an example of the selection API, follow the Related posts below.

The post Selection API for PLAXIS Input appeared first on Plaxis.

In order to create a custom connection in PLAXIS 3D Input program the following steps are needed (see also video):

1. Select a beam or a plate
2. Holding Ctrl+LMB multi-select the connecting plate (LMB=left-mouse button)
3. RMB to open the popup window with options (RMB=right-mouse button)
4. Select the option: Create a custom connection

Note that a custom connection is possible between two plates and between a beam and a plate. For more information please check our Reference manual.

The above procedure is easy and straightforward when only a few custom connections are to be defined. However, when many connections are to be created this starts becoming cumbersome (see attached video: Create custom connection with PLAXIS GUI).

With the selection API, this can be done even faster by directly clicking on the objects of interest one after the other and the Python script will do the rest (see attached video: Create custom connection with PLAXIS Python selection API):

from plxscripting.plx_scripting_exceptions import PlxScriptingError 

print('Python script running...') 

while True: 
    sel_objs = g_i.selection[:] 
    if not sel_objs: 
            pass  # nothing selected 
    else: 
        if len(sel_objs) == 2: 
            try: 
                g_i.connection(*sel_objs) 
                g_i.selection = []  # empty the selection 
            except PlxScriptingError: 
                print('Connection already exists. Choose next objects or quit.') 
                g_i.selection = []  # empty the selection                         
                pass  # command failed so back to the while-loop 
         else: 
            pass  # continue the while-loop until two items are selected

Conditions

The following should be considered about the code above:

• The script requires the existence of plates
• The code will run forever unless it is manually stopped due to the while-loop. The advantage of this while-loop, in this case, is that you can just let the script run while you conveniently just select all the connection parts without interruption.
• The code covers the cases that:
  • No selection was made
  • Only a selection of exactly 2 objects can occur to make the custom connection
  • A custom connection already exists using a try-except statement
• The PlxScriptingError is the class that covers the different errors that can occur when using the Plaxis command line.
• To see all prerequisites, please refer to this article: Using PLAXIS Remote scripting with the Python wrapper

Usage instructions for Python script 

To use this Python script: 

• Download the file (use Save As...) 
• Launch PLAXIS Input with a project with plates 
• Make sure you are in Staged construction mode 
• Open SciTE under Expert > Python > Editor... 
• Open the custom_connection_selection_API.py file  
• Select Tools > Go (or keyboard key F5) 
• The Python script is running... Select two plates to make a custom connection. 
• When finished select Tools > Stop executing (or keyboard keys Ctrl + Break) 

Alternatively, the Python script can be run from the dedicated folder for Python tools in the installation directory. By default, this is at: 
C:\Program Files\Plaxis\Plaxis 3D\pytools\input
The Python script can then be found in PLAXIS Input Expert menu, under Python > Run Python tool.

Note that for this approach the boilerplate needs to be adjusted to:
s_i, g_i = new_server()

Version

The script is tested with PLAXIS 3D 2018.01 and Python 3.4 using Tutorial 2 - Excavation in sand from the Plaxis Tutorial Manual.

The post Create custom connection with selection API appeared first on Plaxis.

How to look inside the soil of a 3D model to understand the behaviour

When running a PLAXIS 3D model, the most interesting behaviour and results are usually all inside the 3D soil model. For presentation purposes, we can hide a part of the geometry to present the PLAXIS 3D calculation results. We can then have a look to see how soils and structures inside a 3D model behave, such as displacements beneath an excavated surface and behind the walls of an excavation. We can use different techniques to do this:

• Using an iso-plane contour plot to show the iso-areas where we can see the areas that have the same results.
• Or use partial geometry options to hide soil elements so we can focus on what we would like to see.

Iso-areas

An iso-area (or isosurface) is a three-dimensional variation of an isoline. It is a surface that represents points of a constant value (e.g. displacements, strains, stresses, pore pressure, groundwater head) within the volume of the 3D model space. With the iso-areas visualization in PLAXIS 3D Output, the results domain is subdivided in a number of intervals, and for each interval limit, such an iso-area (or isosurface) is shown.
This option can give us quick insight into the model behaviour, however, it may not always give insight when using it as a static image, see Figure 1.

Figure 1. Iso-areas for deformations in Tutorial Lesson 2

Partial geometry options

When using partial geometry options, we can

	hide individual elements by either using the model explorer or using the Click to Hide soil button: Ctrl+click hide individual elements or use Shift+click to hide the entire volume;
	We can also use a tool called Hide soil in the rectangle. With this we can drag a rectangle over the 3D model and all elements inside this rectangle will be hidden;
	And another option is to use the filter options from the Geometry > Filter menu item. Here we can for instance hide elements based on their coordinate, e.g., hide all elements with an X-coordinate > 5.5 m

What all these methods have in common, is that the showing and hiding soil is based on the Finite Elements. This may result in a non-smooth plot due to the unstructured mesh using tetrahedral elements as used in PLAXIS 3D. This can give the following plot when applying it to PLAXIS 3D’s Tutorial Lesson 2, see Figure 2.

Figure 2. Hiding part of the model with partial geometry with a non-smooth cut-surface

Fortunately, there is a way to easily improve the visualization of this. We can do this by introducing helper surfaces at the location where we want to hide the elements.

Example partial geometry with helper surfaces

Example: we want to hide a quarter (or corner) of the 3D model so we can see inside the soil while giving it a clear and smooth visualization. Here we will be using PLAXIS 3D’s Tutorial Lesson 2 again.
We can create this using the following steps:

1. In PLAXIS 3D Input, go to Structures mode
2. Here, create sections (the helper surfaces) along the X- and Y-axis (Z is the vertical axis) that will align with the plot you want to show. This will divide the model into sub-clusters once we enter any of the green modes (mesh, flow conditions and staged construction).
3. Regenerate the mesh and restart the calculation
4. When viewing the results in Output, turn off these soil sub-clusters, and hide any structure in this quarter (or corner) of the model to get the desired Output plot.

Below you can see the final Output plot view in Figure 3 and Figure 4

Figure 3. Partial geometry using helper surfaces – Deformed mesh

Figure 4. Partial geometry using helper surfaces – Total deformations

See also the attached animation to see the steps to create such a nice visualization:

The post Using partial geometry for interesting result images in PLAXIS 3D appeared first on Plaxis.

The PLAXIS 2D CONNECT Edition V20 features new dongle-less licensing called Subscription Entitlement Service and is available through Bentley's Software Downloads page.

Typically, your IT manager will first need to register your company email address and will grant you access to all the services and entitlements that you should have access to. In this case, you will need to sign in to Connection Client with your email and a password provided by your IT manager. Once signed in, you will have access to your CONNECT services and entitlements.

If you have not been registered, then you will need to register, details of which can be found here.

Already a CONNECTED user?

Download PLAXIS 2D CONNECT Edition V20 now!

The post PLAXIS 2D CONNECT Edition V20 appeared first on Plaxis.

The PLAXIS 3D CONNECT Edition V20 features new dongle-less licensing called Subscription Entitlement Service and is available through Bentley's Software Downloads page.

Typically, your IT manager will first need to register your company email address and will grant you access to all the services and entitlements that you should have access to. In this case, you will need to sign in to Connection Client with your email and a password provided by your IT manager. Once signed in, you will have access to your CONNECT services and entitlements.

If you have not been registered, then you will need to register, details of which can be found here.

Already a CONNECTED user?

Download PLAXIS 3D CONNECT Edition V20 now!

The post PLAXIS 3D CONNECT Edition V20 appeared first on Plaxis.

A workaround for this issue in PLAXIS 2D CONNECT Edition V20 is to create a dummy soil cluster at any side where originally no cluster is defined. Then in the phases, make sure to deactivate this dummy soil cluster.

Users are advised to check the external water loads value in the preview or view of any calculated phase, under Project menu>Water load information.

The post External water pressures on structures above the soil incorrect in 2D CONNECT Edition V20 appeared first on Plaxis.

In PLAXIS Input, the default behaviour is to store only the last calculation step of each phase. The option to set the Max number of steps stored can be found in Phases window, under the Numerical control parameters.
This parameter defines the number of steps of a calculation phase to be stored.

In case that the Max number of steps stored is larger than 1, intermediate steps are automatically stored depending on the type of calculation as shown in Phases window.

The intermediate steps stored can be inspected in PLAXIS Output, as explained in the article Inspect intermediate step results in PLAXIS Output. Also, these stored steps can be used when generating curves using post-calc nodes (Selecting points for curves article).

For more information on this property, check the Plaxis Reference manual.

The post How to setup the number of steps stored in PLAXIS Input appeared first on Plaxis.

The post PLAXIS 2D Manuals appeared first on Plaxis.