3/11/2016

WaterParametersRocscience
Sign in

Search

Rocscience > Slide > Groundwater

Water Parameters
Many users are unsure about what parameters need to be defined when carrying out a groundwater analysis in Slide. The
parameters that must be defined are dependent on theGroundwater Method used.
TheGroundwater Method determines how pore water pressure will be modeled. The available options are briefly
summarized below. Also addressed is how pore fluid unit weight affects the analyses.
1. What Water Parameters apply if the Water Surfaces Groundwater Method is used?
2. What Water Parameters apply if the Ru Coefficient Groundwater Method is used?
If the Groundwater Method = Ru Coefficient in Project Settings, then the following Water Parameters will
apply:
Ru Value
An Ru coefficient between 0 and 1 must be specified. The Ru coefficient used in Slide is the one widely used,
which simply models the pore pressure as a fraction of the vertical earth pressure for each slice.
NOTE: the calculation of the vertical earth pressure includes the weight of ponded water, if a material is
submerged under water. However, the vertical pressure does NOT include forces due to external loads (e.g.
line, distributed or seismic loads).
If one soil type has regions of differing Ru values, then a different material will have to be defined for each
different Ru value. Appropriate Material Boundaries will have to be added to the model, in order to define the
different soil regions.
3. What Water Parameters apply if the Water Pressure Grid Groundwater Method is used?
If the Groundwater Method in Project Settings is one of the three Grid options (Total Head, Pressure Head or
Pore Pressure), then the following Water Parameters will apply:
Grid On/Off
The effect of a pore pressure grid can be turned ON or OFF for a given material. If toggled OFF, then pore
pressure will be set to zero for that material, and no pore pressure calculations will be done for that material.
Default is ON.
A Water Pressure Grid is created (or can be read from a file), using the Water Pressure Grid option in the
Boundaries menu.
When a Water Pressure Grid is specified, an Interpolation Method must also be specified. The Interpolation
Method is used to calculate the water pressure at any point in the soil, from the values at the grid points.
There are several different Interpolation Methods which are available in Slide. See the Interpolation Method

https://support.rocscience.com/hc/enus/articles/206735827WaterParameters

1/2

3/11/2016

WaterParametersRocscience
topic for details.
NOTE: it is possible to use Ru coefficients and water pressure grids in the same model, see the Water
Parameters topic for details. This question is also addressed later in this article.
4. What Water Parameters apply if the Finite Element Analysis Groundwater Method is used?
5. Can the Ru Coefficient be used with Water Surfaces or Grids?
6. What is the default value of the pore fluid unit weight and how does this influence the groundwater analyses?

PoweredbyZendesk

https://support.rocscience.com/hc/enus/articles/206735827WaterParameters

2/2