Groundwater Analysis with Slide2

Within the Slide2 program, Slide2 has the capability to carry out a finite element groundwater seepage analysis, for steady-state or transient flow conditions.

The Groundwater Analysis in Slide2 allows you to easily define and analyze a groundwater problem, using the same model as for the slope stability problem. The boundaries of the problem only need to be defined once and will be used for both the groundwater analysis and the slope stability analysis.

Although the Slide2 groundwater analysis is geared towards the calculation of pore pressures for slope stability problems, it is not restricted to slope geometry configurations. The Groundwater modelling and analysis capabilities in Slide2 can be used to analyze an arbitrary, 2-dimensional groundwater problem, for saturated/unsaturated, steady-state or transient flow conditions.

The groundwater analysis capability in Slide2 can be considered a completely self-contained seepage analysis program and can be used entirely independently of the slope stability functionality of Slide2.

Groundwater Modeling

The groundwater modelling options in Slide2 are all contained within the Slide2 Model program. In order to enable finite element groundwater modelling, it is first necessary to set the appropriate groundwater options in Project Settings (i.e. Groundwater Method = Steady State FEA or Advanced Method = Transient). When you do this:

• An Analysis Mode option will be available, which allows you to select Slope Stability, Steady State Groundwater or Transient Groundwater modes.
• When you are in Groundwater analysis mode, the menu and toolbar will present all of the necessary groundwater modelling options.

For a summary of the steps necessary to carry out a groundwater analysis with Slide2, see the Groundwater Overview topic.

Groundwater Compute

The groundwater analysis engine in Slide2 is a separate program from the slope stability analysis engine. You may perform a groundwater analysis in Slide2, without necessarily performing a slope stability analysis.

However, after a groundwater analysis is performed, the results (pore pressures), can be automatically utilized by the slope stability analysis engine in Slide2.

Groundwater Interpret

The results of a Slide2 groundwater analysis are viewed with the Slide2 Interpret program and can be viewed at the same time as the slope stability analysis results.

After you perform a groundwater analysis with Slide2, it is always a good idea to first use the Slide2 Interpret program, to check that the analysis results are reasonable, before you proceed to a slope stability analysis. If not, then you should go back to the Slide2 Model program, and check that you have defined your model correctly.