Water tables and pore water pressures

Define phreatic surface levels to determine pore water pressures where the water table is known.

Determine levels and pressures between those locations based on porosity and hydraulic conductivity.

Alternatively define pore pressures based on piezometer readings or borehole data.

Seepage and consolidation

Understand groundwater flows as the seasons change, when dewatering an excavation, or when using wick drains.

Monitor consolidation rates through a construction process.

Move the phreatic surface in steps or incrementally. Check the stability of slopes or retaining structures as the water table changes. 

Control the analysis

Model drained, undrained, or partially saturated states. Choose from a range of filling and draining methodologies. 

Change boundary conditions any time.

Set solution strategies for groundwater and permeability to suit your needs.

Impulse without interference

Use time dependent loading for impact or time history.

Define non-reflective boundaries simply and view animations to understand and present results.

The boundaries automatically transfer energy out of the sub-model for a more realistic modelling of response and interference.

Take it step by step

Model construction or dismantling, excavations, embankments, backfilling.

Add and remove supports or structural parts for retaining, tunnel or above ground structures.

Change material properties at any stage in the sequence, e.g.  increase back of wall friction after the completion of backfilling operations or change a joint from being pinned to being encastre.

Test multiple scenarios

Track time dependent effects of consolidation together with creep and shrinkage of concrete.

Compare alternative scenarios with multiple analyses and branches.

Check stability or dynamic performance of part-finished projects with branches at any stage.

Fine control where you need it

Reset deformations in any part of the model, while retaining stress history. Ensure parts are added exactly where they were drawn.

Use manual increments, automatic increments or load curves to cover any scenario.

Model ground and structure in one place

A single environment for modelling soil and structure together.  True interaction with detailed modelling of both systems.  Choose the level of soil modelling that suits your needs.

Eliminate time wasted and errors introduced when passing information between different software.

Any geometry, any application

Go beyond the limitation of wizard-based (narrow-scope) software. Consider foundations, slopes, dams, wick drains, retaining walls and tunnels all in a single model in 2D or 3D. 

For rapid draw-down, fracture, ground freezing effects and moving vehicle loads, LUSAS has you covered.

Fast "What ifs"

Soil is unpredictable. Consider best estimate, upper and lower bound properties and assess sensitivity to parametric change. 

Your construction methodology can alter. Use branching to assess changes at any stage and the impact on all other stages. 

Wide range of soil models

Select the constitutive material models you need to tackle a wide range of geotechnical conditions.

Include softening soils, anisotropic layered deposits, granular materials, clay or rock.

Choose from Hoek-Brown, Modified Cam Clay, Mohr Coulomb, Tresca, Duncan Chang, Drucker Prager and more.

Wide range of soil tools

Soil strata definitions, P-Y curves, Phi-C reduction and more. Model all sorts of problem.

Proven on projects the world over

LUSAS has been used in ground modelling for decades, meaning that our numerical methods are trusted and validated.

See our list of case studies here.