GGU-STABILITY: Soil layers (Ex. 2)
- Matthias Jusko
The positions of the soil layers are now entered. The soil layers describe the stratification of the slope. A soil layer is defined by a polygon line with two x/y coordinate pairs as the lower edge of an overlying soil column. The area above these two coordinate pairs receives the soil properties of the soil also to be specified (as a number according to the numbering in the "Soil properties" dialog box). The soil layers (columns) extend upwards to the surface level or to the lower edge of any overlying soil layer. The soil layers must be entered in such a way that in all conceivable vertical sections the soil layer lying above another always has the lower layer number (layer number: do not confuse with soil number!!). This condition is checked by the program. If the condition is not met, an error message is displayed with the corresponding layer number and the possibility of correction. Incorrect entries are thus excluded.
The example system has 10 soil layers. First, select the "Soil layers" button. To edit the number of soil layers, select "x layer(s) to edit". Then enter 10 as the new number and confirm with "OK". The example requires input of the following values:
The dialog box for the soil layers has two additional buttons in comparison to the corresponding boxes for surface points and soil properties
"Cut" and
"Paste".
Further, small boxes are placed in front of each of the layer values. To delete a layer you must click on the box of the layer to be deleted and then select the "Cut" button. The layer will then be deleted. The layer values are copied to an internal buffer and used as the new values for a layer if a "Paste" is necessary. This makes it easy to reorganise layers. Pasting of layer is analogous to cutting. A new layer will be pasted in front of the marked layer. Correct sorting can also be left to the program by selecting the "Test system" menu item from the "Editor 1" menu. The program will find any irregularities and offer correction possibilities.
It is even easier to import soil layers via the Windows clipboard. If you have the information on the soil layers in an Excel spreadsheet, for example, you can copy the corresponding columns there to the clipboard ("Edit/Copy") and then enter these values using the "Import clipboard" button in the above dialog box.
For contiguous soil layers the end point of the first line is automatically adopted as the start point of the new line. When reading in coordinate pairs a dialog box shows how many layers are defined. You also assign the soil number here, so that the soil properties are defined for this soil layer.
If you copy the coordinates for the layers that are to have soil no. 2 from the above Excel table and click on "Import clipboard", the following therefore appears. The layers are to be added to the already defined layers, hence the "Append" check box is activated.
Before reading in the coordinates, select the soil number for which you are inserting the layer data. For a completely new system the layers (soil columns) are taken over into the above dialog box and inserted as shown below:
