Manual 10/2010

FIDES-GroundSlab

Interactive Generation, Calculation and Dimensioning

of Elastic Semi Infinite Space Models

by Fides DV-Partner GmbH

FIDES-GroundSlab

FIDES DV-Partner
Systemhaus Berlin GmbH
Pettenkoferstrasse 4b
10247 Berlin
Tel: +49 30 / 4 20 26 90 – 0
Fax: +49 30 / 4 20 26 90 – 29

FIDES DV-Partner
Beratungs- und Vertriebs-GmbH
Dessauerstraße 9
80992 München
Tel: +49 89 / 14 38 29 – 0
Fax: +49 89 / 14 38 29 – 11

info@fides-dvp.de
http://www.fides-dvp.de

Copyright © Fides DV-Partner GmbH

All rights reserved. No part of this script may be reprinted, copied or reproduced in any form or
by any means, without the prior written permission from FIDES DV-Partner GmbH.
FIDES reserves the right to modify or work out new versions of this script. More over FIDES ensures, that
manual and program are made to the best knowledge and in all conscience, but does not take over any
guarantee that the manual and program is bug free. Mistakes or inadequaces will be removed right after
coming out. The responsibility of the applications of the users remains on the side of the user. He is
advised to make spot checks in order to make sure the correctness of his analysings.

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Content
Overview 5
Content of this manual ............................................................................................ 5

How to use 6
General ................................................................................................................... 6

Example 7
Input of system ........................................................................................................ 7
Calculation ............................................................................................................ 10
Input File ............................................................................................................... 11
Output ................................................................................................................... 12

Drawing Objects 14
Set of Soil Layers .................................................................................................. 14
Soil profiles ............................................................................................................ 15
Base Plates ........................................................................................................... 16
Clearance .............................................................................................................. 17
Couplings .............................................................................................................. 17
Walls ..................................................................................................................... 18
Loads .................................................................................................................... 18
Piles ...................................................................................................................... 19
FEA-Mesh ............................................................................................................. 20
Sections ................................................................................................................ 20
Dimension lines ..................................................................................................... 21
Texts ..................................................................................................................... 21
Stage ..................................................................................................................... 22

Editing Objects 23
General ................................................................................................................. 23
Delete .................................................................................................................... 23
Properties .............................................................................................................. 23
Move ..................................................................................................................... 24

Load combinations 25
General ................................................................................................................. 25
Defining combinations ........................................................................................... 25
Inside load combinations ...................................................................................... 26

Menu items 27
File ........................................................................................................................ 27
Edit ........................................................................................................................ 27
View ...................................................................................................................... 27
Modify.................................................................................................................... 29
Stage ..................................................................................................................... 30
Create ................................................................................................................... 30

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Windows ............................................................................................................... 30

Toolbars 32
Explorer+Pickfilter................................................................................................. 32
Standard ............................................................................................................... 32
View ...................................................................................................................... 33
Create ................................................................................................................... 34
SOFiSTiK .............................................................................................................. 34
Status bar ............................................................................................................. 35

Index 36

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Overview

Content of this manual

GroundSlab enables the geotechnic engineer to do calculations of soil-
building- interactions due to the theory of the elastic semi infinite space. The
program is for the input of complex construction stages with subsequent
calculation of settlements, dimensioning of base plates and representations
of the stresses in the soil.
This manual covers the complete functional range of GroundSlab and the
extended license GroundSlab 2,5D. The examples and pictures are taken
from the expansion stage GroundSlab 2,5D that can deal with a complete
three dimensional construction stage. With GroundSlab 2,5D you can input
piles for bracing the semi infinite space, as well as implement non linear
Calculations, in order to simulate plasticity of soil.

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How to use

General
 After starting the program you will find an empty project. Save this
using a name of your own choice into a proper directory.
 When you are prompted to enter a point, you can press the space bar
to enter its coordinates in a dialog. The relative coordinates refer to
the last clicked point. Select “View / View / Objects” and toggle the tick
mark “Show last clicked point”.
 A entering coordinates can be done very conveniently by using the
numpad. See chapter Status bar, on page 35.
 To end an action or break, press the „ESC“ key or the right mouse
button.
 If working on a slow computer you can speed up things by selecting
“View / View / Objects / Fast font display”. From now on all texts that
exceed a certain size will be drawn smaller and a transversal line will
show the size the text will have when printing. Dimension lines are
tagged only at printing stage now.

 If you see an icon you can get context sensitive help by clicking it.
 The cursor changes its image when it comes close to a known object
to indicate what would be picked when clicking with the left mouse
button.
 Activating ‘multipick’ gives you the opportunity to select from multiple
objects if more than one would fit.
 Holding down the left shift key when working with mouse input,
imagined intersections can be snapped to.

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Example

Input of system
You will find this example as a file in the Bsp- directory. (Manual.igel)

 Start the application. You’ll see a new project. Save it to a proper file
with “File / Save as…”
 Select the menu item “View / Grid” and set a reasonable grid size.
Select “Snap to grid” if you want to align mouse coordinated to the
grid.
 Select the menu item “Create / Set of soil layers”

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 In the following dialog click on “New layer” to create a layer. Double

click it to change its specific data.

 Enter some more layers and close the dialog with OK.
 Select “Soil profile” from the menu “Create” and click a point in the
drawing at which you want to create a soil profile.
 Select a layer in the left list and use the “=>” button to include it into
the soil profile. You will then be asked to enter a Z-coordinate for the
top of the layer.

 Repeat this to specify several layers in the soil profile and exit with
OK.
 Select the menu item “Create / Base plate / Polygon”
Press space bar or the right  Click the points for the base plate successively
mouse button, select dialog
to enter coordinates for a  Now click the right mouse button to finish the input and enter the
point in a dialog. Here also specific data for the base plate in the opening dialog.
you can give points relative  Give another base plate if you like.
to the last clicked point

 Now select “Create / Pile” from the menu and enter the pile’s head
position by clicking a point.

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If you want to compute the  In the following dialog enter the data for the pile.
maximum transmittable
force in the foot of the pile
you have to calculate the
project non-linear . (only
GroundSlab 2,5D). For that
you have to activate "non
linear" from the menu
Calculation
Now you have to give more
values in order to specify
your project. A non-linear
calculation possibly takes
very much time. If you insert
new piles into the system, or
move piles, it is necessary
to create a new FEA-mesh.
Because at the coordinates
of the Piles there should be
mesh-nodes.

 Select “Create / Load”

 Click on a point, hold the left mouse button down and drag a frame of
the size you want to create a load.
 After releasing the mouse button a dialog appears that lets you
specify the loads impact and position.
 If you like to put additional loads onto the base plate, select "Create /
Loads / Line load on base plate"
 Now click in or onto one base plate.
 Hold down the mouse button pressed and drag the desired line with
the mouse.
 In the following dialog you can specify the load impacts.
 Now select “Create / FEA / New mesh” and set the mesh size in the
dialog.

 if you click "Automatically", a rectangle will be meshed, that is about

20% bigger than the biggest dimensions of the whole system.
Therefore the mesh size is set to zero (automatic).

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 Select “Create / Dimension line / Horizontally”

 Click a point. This point will be the position of the dimension line later.
 Now click successively points that you want to have inserted in the
dimension line and finish with the right mouse button.
 Select “Create / Text” and click on a point.
 Now enter a text for description and press OK.
 If the text is wrongly positioned, move it. Move the mouse pointer to
the text. When “snap to objects” is activated, the crosshair will snap to
the text’s upper left corner. This is the so-called pick-point. Now click
the left mouse button to select the text and click again holding the
mouse button down and moving the object. Moving is complete when
you release the left mouse button. This technique works with almost
every object.

Calculation
Before starting the calculation, you can specify the graphical results to be
drawn. If some parts of the calculation have been executed already, then
you must not select them again in the next execution. This way you can
save time for already calculated parts.
From the menu select item: “Calculation / Calculate”. If you already own a
copy of SOFiSTiK software with programs PFAHL or ASE select
“Calculation / WinPS”
 In the following dialog you can specify details of the calculation.

 The module control lets you leave out already calculated modules.
The data of the already calculated modules is stored in the data base
(.cdb).The modules:
 - GENF System geometry and finite element topology.
- HASE Calculation of the semi infinite space
- ASE Loads, calculation of forces, stresses and deformations.

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The input file will be  Select templates for graphical output of the results with the “<=” arrow
described more detailed and finish with OK.
later. Look chapter: "Input
File", on page 11.  The input file will now be created and the desired calculations will be
performed.
 If an error occurs, select the menu item “Calculation / SOFiSTiK /
Results”

to view the results file with Teddy. Now press ALT-F or ALT-W to go
to the next error / warning.
 After a successful calculation you can browse the output by using the
menu item “Calculation / SOFiSTiK / Ursula”. Here you can see the
results detailed and sorted with drawings.

Input File
In this chapter the input file that controls the calculation will be described in
detail. The advantage for SOFiSTiK full version owners is, that they can
manually alter the input file to include features that exceed the functionality
of PilePro. The .dat file will be written in 2 parts. In the (NAME).dat all
system and calculation input is specified. In the (NAME).gra graphics input
will be created.
 GENF
Here the nodes and numbers of the QUAD elements for the base
plates will be written. Each QUAD element (e) is in a group (n) and
will have the element number (n*GDIV)+e, where the group devisor is
usually 10000. First nodes will be written, then the QUAD data. The
piles with bedding and material properties follow.
 Then comes a group that represents, the surface of the area if it was
desired . this mesh will be used, in order to describe settlements and
bedding stresses visually, and lets you see the pressing of the base
plates in the ground. In the following groups you can find area loads.
Area loads will be written in an subdivision of 10x10 elements.
Finally soil profiles will be written in position and layers.
 HASE
here the upper edge of the semi finite space will be defined, and an
area will be determined, in that you can look for nodes.
 SEPP
Here the QUAD- elements of the discreet groups will be furnished with
area loads. The stiffness matrix of the elements and the system will
be calculated.
 GRAF
After calculating with modules GENF and ASE/SEPP, the system and
all the a´pplied loads are drawn for your revision.
 HASE
In the second 2.HASE-grup [(NAME).dat ] the bedding stresses of the
different depths will be transmitted onto the ground mesh. A new
database will be generated, that contains BRIC- Elements, for that the
stresses in the intersections can be viewed in 3D .
 GRAF
the GRAF-groups are very numerous and provided with a head, that
gives intonations about the graphic.

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 BEMESS
Here the required reinforcement of the lone base plates will be
computed if desired.
 GRAF
this GRAF-group serves for viewing the acquired amounts of
reinforcements .

Output
Here are some example graphics generated during calculation .
 Displaced structure:

 Bending moments of base plates:

450.00

400.00

-10.00

350.00
-5.00

300.00

250.00
-27.67
-24.75

0.00
-2.79

200.00
-1.23 -2.12
-2.33

0.08
2.11
1.97

1.94
6.33

150.00
2.12

5.00

100.00
10.00

50.00
6.33

0.00

-27.67
-40.58
-20.00 -15.00 -10.00 -5.00 0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 m

BIEGEMOMENT M-YY LF 1 1 CM = 50.0 kNm/m M 1 : 200

Y X X * 0.745
Z Y * 0.745
Z * 0.943

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 Settlements at base plates lower edge:

- 10. 00
0. 400

0. 400
1. 200

0. 800
0
0. 40

- 5. 00
00
1. 0
0. 600
0. 800 1. 00
0 00
1. 6

1. 40
1. 20

0
0

0. 00
1. 400

1. 60

0. 800
0

1. 200
0
00
2.

1. 000

0. 600
0. 800

5. 00
1. 80
1. 000
0. 600

1. 200

0
1. 40

0. 80
0
1. 200
0. 800

0. 600

10. 00
0. 4
00

00
0. 4

- 20. 00 - 15. 00 - 10. 00 - 5. 00 0. 00 5. 00 10. 00 15. 00 20. 00 m

Z X VERSCHI EBUNG VZ LF 1 VON 0. 260 BI S 2. 11 STUFEN 0. 200 mm M 1 : 200

Y

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Drawing Objects

Set of Soil Layers

The soil layers in a project are kept in a list. When creating a soil profile you
can set references to a layer in this list. The layer database is a simple .xml
file named filydb.xml and usually resides in the Windows system directory.
You can make a copy of it and put it in the directory of the application to use
this file instead of it. So you can create list databases that are bound to
projects. Otherwise the filydb.xml will be used for all FIDES-applications.
 Select “Create / Set of soil layers”.
 Click “New layer” in the appearing dialog.

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To make a layer be an „End  Double click a layer to edit its properties. Select a layer from the
of soil profile“ indicator, database and alter it or give this standard layer a new name.
enter „-1“ for the value Es0.
The values with a colored
background are not used
during calculation. They
might be altered in order to
keep data base up to date.
The data base “filyDB.xml”
will be searched and used in
project, then in program
and at last in system
directory.

 By clicking “Add” the data from the dialog will be added to the
filydb.xml. When creating a new project, this layer is then available .
 With “Delete” you can remove the selected layer from filydb.xml.
 OK applies this parameters to the layer and closes the dialog.

Soil profiles
Layers will assemble soil profiles from the soil layer list. The layers in the
soil profile get a Z-coordinate that marks the upper delimiter of the layer in
this soil profile.
 Select “Create / Soil profile” or click this button:

 Specify the position of the soil profile to be created by clicking with the
left mouse button or a dialog with the space bar.
 Select a layer from the left list and push the “=>” button to include it
into the soil profile.

To alter the Z-Value of a  A dialog appears that lets you enter the Z-coordinate of the upper
layer delimiter double click delimiter of this layer.
the layer (right)

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The layer properties can be  To remove a layer form the list (right), select it and push the “<=”
changed by clicking with the button.
right mouse button on a
layer in the left list  The button “position” lets you change the x, y coordinates of the soil
profile.

Base Plates
In a system a list of base plates can be input. If you want to ignore some of
them in another stage, you have to deactivate them
 Select “Create / Base plate / Polygon” or click this button:

Points can be entered safely  Click with the left mouse button the first point of the plate and proceed
by pressing the space bar. A entering more points. The plate will be drawn as a closed polygon.
dialog shows up and lets
you enter the coordinates
directly or in reference to the
last clicked point
 End the input with the right mouse button or “ESC” and specify the
data for the base plate in the showing dialog.

 “Active in this stage” allows you to disable plates for specific

construction stages. The plate will be drawn with dashed lines for
better recognition.
 The values DO, DHO, DHU and DU specify the distance of the
reinforcement to the border of the plate. See graphic in the dialog.
 The „factor for stiffness“ allows you to calculate with a stiffness other
than the stiffnes given by the selected material.
 Vz gives you the possibility to apply additional load on the polygonal
area of the plate.

 Insert points into a plate by clicking this button: and specifying

the point afterwards.
 Delete points the same way like you delete other objects. (See Editing
Objects, Page 23)
 GroundSlab can create fast circular or rectangular plates with the
menu item “Create / Base plate / Circular base plate” or “…

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Rectangular base plate” or by clicking one of these buttons:

 Now click on the center of the base plate and enter the dimensions in
the following dialog. The plate will be created as a polygon.
 If you want to create a cavity in a plate, simply create a new plate
completely inside an existing.
 When plates overlap due to creation or movement, you will be asked
what to do with each resulting plate after the intersection has
occurred.

Clearance
You can create clearances into plates. If you move a plate completely into a
second plate, the first one will be a clearance within it.
 Select function „Create / Plate / Clearance“ or click the clearance
button:

 Now enter points for the polygonal clearance and end input by clicking
right mouse button.

Couplings
With couplings, base plates with shared edges can be connected. This can
be useful if a base plate changes its thickness at a certain position.
 Use “Create / Base plate / Coupling” or click this button:

 Move the mouse pointer to a common edge of two base plates and
press the let mouse button.
 The plates will now be connected. The connection will be created at
the shortest of the 2 edges.

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Walls
Walls are stiffening objects at the edges of plates. To have walls inside of a
plate, simply construct two plates, couple them and add a wall at the
coupled edge inside the plate.
 Select “Create / Base plate / Walls” or click on this button:

 Now move the mouse pointer to a base plate’s edge and press the left
mouse button.
 In the following dialog you can specify the stiffness of the wall.

 The wall now is visible and can be picked.

Loads
You can create point / line and area loads in GroundSlab program.
 In order to create a new load, select "Create / Load" from the menu
or click on this icon:

 If you click a point now, you'll create a point load.

 Clicking a second point will make a line load and every additional
point will be handled as an area load.
 Click the right mouse button to finish point input.

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 In the following dialog you can specify the load's values.

 In the preview on the right side you can click a loads node. It will be
red then. The previously red node becomes green, the green
becomes blue and the blue gets gray again.
 The nodes: red, green and blue form a surface when editing area
loads. You can specify load ordinates for these points. All other load
ordinates will be interpolated to this surface then.
 When you edit a load with 4 points you can optionally create a
rectangular load by checking the flag "Rectangular load". The red,
green and blue nodes now form a rectangle as shown in the small
image.
 The dialog may vary depending on the load's type.

Piles
Piles will be considered at the stiffness determination of the semi infinite
space. They are only content of the expansion stage GroundSlab 2,5D.
 From the menu "Create" select "Pile", or use the following button:

 Click the center of the pile or press the space bar for the dialog. In the
following dialog give in the values for the pile:

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 "coat friction, active from depth:" specify here from which depth the
coat friction has to be considered, because often the coat friction can
not be used direct below the base plate. Give '0' in order to get no
limitation. Whereas if you want '0' as Z-level, please give '0.01'.
 "amount of coat friction from the load transfer:" declares how much
percentage % of the load on the pile will be taken over by the coat
friction. The rest will be excavated by the point pressure.
 Maximum transferable force in the pile foot: This value will be active
when you have selected "Calculation / Non linear".

FEA-Mesh
The FEA-mesh serves for visualizing the caving of the plates into the ground
as well as for showing the stresses and settlements in the plant of the
building site. Use this functionality in order to create the meshes for the
base plates, loads and the site. Without any FEA-mesh no calculation can
be done.
 A new mesh can be created with “Create / FEA / New mesh” or the
button:
 In the following dialog you can give the edge width of the mesh, you
can give the edge values of the mesh and select the mesh density. In
clicking the "Automatically" Button, a mesh size width will be
determined automatically. The dimensions overtop all objects of the
project of about minimum 5m.

 To remove the meshes, select the menu item “Create / FEA / Remove
mesh”.

Sections
Make sections through the base plates in order to show in the 3D-system
the stresses in the soil.
 Select the menu item "Create / Section" or click this button:

 Click one point in the drawing, through that the section should be.

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 In the following dialog give the direction of the section.

 On a section during calculation contour lines will be generated, with

that the soil stresses in the depth will be shown.

Dimension lines
 Select the menu item “Create / Dimension Lines / Horizontal” or
“..Vertical” or click the following button:
 Click a point that specifies the position of the dimension line.
 Now click successively points to be shown in the dimension line.
 To change the font and size of the texts select the menu item “View /
View / Objects”. Here you can toggle if dimension texts are to be
drawn on screen or just on the printer (fast fonts).

Texts
Texts can help describing parts of the project more closely.
 Select the menu item “Create / Text” or click the following button:

 Click on a point that will be the upper left corner of the text. In the
dialog enter the text and set font and size of font.

 Border: A frame will be drawn.

 Transparent: The background of the text is transparent.
 Size static: The font size won’t be affected by zooming.

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Stage
Stages contain a list of loads on base plates and soil, dimension lines and
texts. Soil profiles, sections and base plates are not independent of stages.
The stages also in non linear calculations will be evaluated as independent
load cases.
 You can generate, delete and rename building stages with the menu
"Stages" as well as with the following icons:
 A new stage can be generated as an empty stage as well as values
can be taken over from an existing stage.

 Select the current stage with the combobox: Stages

or with the toolbar standard with this
buttons:

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Editing Objects

General
GroundSlab is an object-oriented program. Each element can be selected
for editing in a dialog afterwards. Select objects before or after selecting a
command with the left mouse button. Use the right mouse button to get a
context sensitive menu for selected items. Double clicking an object or using
the menu item “Properties” will cause a dialog to appear in which you can
edit the object’s properties.
Double clicking into white space will cause current object to be deselected.
When moving the mouse cursor watch it’s symbol. It will change when a
know object comes into the pick radius. Open the pick filter and activate
“multi pick” to allow a selection if more than one item would fit.
Objects can also be selected and edited with the system-explorer (F7)

Delete
There are multiple ways to delete an object.
 Select the menu item “Modify / Delete” or click the rubber button:

Now click the elements you wish to be deleted and end with right
mouse button or “ESC”.
 Select an object with the left mouse button and press “Del”.
 Click on an element in system explorer, press right mouse button and
select “Delete” from the menu.

Properties
You can modify the properties of almost all objects. Depending on the type
of the object a different dialog will be opened. If an object cannot be opened
the viewing options will be shown. (e.g. dimension lines)

 Select the menu item “Modify / Properties” or click this button:

Now select the item you wish to modify.
 Click on a element in system explorer, press right mouse button and
select “Properties” from the menu.

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Move
There are 3 ways to move an object.
 Select the menu item “Modify / Move” or click the following button:
Now click on the object to be moved. In the dialog enter dx and
dy values or give it a new position.
 Select an object by clicking it with the left mouse button. Click any
point in the drawing and hold down the left mouse button. Now move
the mouse. When you release the button, the object will be moved by
the length and direction of the mouse movement.
 Use the last clicked point to do exact and easy movements. Select the
menu item “View / View / Objects / Show last clicked point”. Now click
any point. This point will be the reference point. Now select the menu
item “Move” and select an object. In the dialog you can now enter
relative coordinates.

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Load combinations

General
GroundSlab supports super positioning of load situations before
dimensioning the plates and piles. One system is created when calculating
that includes all required piles and plates. Each building stage is
represented as a single load case in SOFiSTiK, using group control to
disable elements not available in the construction stage. So, in order to
perform a simple checkerboard load combination 3 construction stages
should be used:
1. The system with all the constant loads.
2. The system with neither constant loads nor dead weight, but the
checkerboard load combination A.
3. The same as 2., but with the alternative loads.
Now, 3 load cases will be calculated which you then can superposition.

Defining combinations

After creating the stages required, use the menu item: "Calculation / Load
combination" and this dialog will appear:

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Here you can specify load combinations. Each combination is either

designed for state of failure or state of serviceability. Then for each stage in
the project you can specify a factor and a type for the stage. The supported
types are:
G The moments and stresses of this stage are considered as results
of constant loads.
Q Imposed load. Load case is added only if it has unfavourable
contribution.
W Alternating load case. Load case is considered positive or negative
if it performs unfavourably.
F Following load case. The load case is added to the previous one
that has not 0.0 as factor.
AG Alternative load case. Same as Ax, but if no load case is unfavourable,
the least favourable load case will be used.
A1..99 Alternative load case.If one of the load cases in the group Ax is
unfavourable, the most unfavourable load case will be used.

The constant rate specifies how much of the results is caused by constant
loads. This is required when dimensioning the plates. For more details see
manual: BEMESS_1.pdf.

Inside load combinations

When calculating, a MAXIMA script will be created for each load
combination. The results of all combinations will be super positioned
afterwards, where you can specify a type for each combination's results.
The results will be super positioned into load cases following this rule:
NRES = NLC*50 + STATE + X
NRES Resulting load case number
NLC Index of the load combination
STATE 1000 for serviceability
2000 for failure
3000 for superposition of state of failure results
3500 for superposition of state of serviceability results
X [1; 6] max/min momentums
[7; 12] max/min internal forces
[20; 29] max/min forces and moments for piles
The load cases 3001 and above will be dimensioned then and result in 3
dimensioning load cases.
1. Results for state of failure
2. Results for state of serviceability
3. Maximum designing results

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Menu items

File
GroundSlab is capable of multiple documents. This means you can open
any number of documents at the same time. The menu file features actions
that refer to the document. The standard file extension for GroundSlab–
documents is *.igel.
 Import / Export: Import or exports the document to or from another
format.
 Print: With this item you can print out the current document.
 Print Preview: Shows the preview of what would be printed.
 Paper size: Here you can set the dimensions of the paper for your
printer.
 Printer Setup: Use this item to setup the printer parameters.
 Send as Email: Use this to send the current project via email.

Edit
Here you will find actions for undo/redo operations and clipboard handling.

 Undo: Undoes the last action.

 Redo: Undoes the last Undo operation.

 Copy: Copies the currently selected object to the clipboard.
 Paste: Pastes the object from the clipboard into the system.

View
 Workspace: Here the commands from the toolbar “View” are
represented. You can work faster by using the toolbar. You’ll find the
corresponding description of the commands in the chapter “Toolbars”,
Page 33.
 Toolbars: Toggles toolbars on / off.
 View: Various settings for the view of the project:

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 Colors: Settings for the colors to use with the project. If the
background is not white, it will be set to white when printing.

Double click an item in the listbox to change the color associated with
the object type.
 Ruler: Settings for ruler and crosshair.

 Objects: Settings for displaying objects.

 Labeling: Toggles the labeling area of the plan.

 Snap to objects: Toggles object snapping. To select what

objects are to be snapped to, use the pick filter.
 Ortho: Toggles orthogonal input.

 Grid: Settings for grid and grid alignment of mouse cursor. Also
pick radius can be set here.

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
 Background drawing: You can use DXF and EMF drawings for the
background of the project. You also have the possibility to pick DXF
drawing points to import drawings. Import a file with “File / Import /
EMF or DXF”. Select “Background drawing”. A dialog pops up:

Select “Show background drawing” and select “Apply”. Click on

“Reference” and drag the known length in your DXF drawing. Then
enter the length [m] in the 2nd window for factor and press “Apply”
Use “Origin – Select” and click a point on the DXF that should be
moved to the origin of your project. Close the window “Scale
background drawing”.

 Show printing range: Shows a dashed frame that represents the

paper sheet limits for your printer.

Modify
Also see chapter "Editing Objects: Editing Objects", page 23.
 Delete, page 23.
 Properties, page 23.
 Move, page 24.
 Label Area: Here you can edit the data for the label area of your blue
print.

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Click on the Logo on the left hand, to select a EMF/WMF file. The
WMF file, that contains your firm logo, should be quadratic. If your
logo is not quadratic, draw a square with a drawing program around
your logo, to avoid contortions. The two list fields on the right hand
show the height of the font of the head line. "No. of page 1" defines
the page number of the first printed page. All following will be
numbered consecutively.
 All Piles: Here you can change some properties of all piles in the
system at the same time. This is pretty useful, if you realize after
calculation, that pile values are selected too small. So you have not to
change all single piles.
 Dead Weight: If you want to change the dead weight option for all
piles and slabs in this situation, quickly, you can use this menu item.
 Shift the Whole System: This menu item allows you to shift the
whole system by X and Y values and thus, set the origin of the system
to a different place.

Stage
For more details see description of Stage, on page 22.

Create
You need at least one base plate and one soil profile for calculation. The
following menu items are described in the chapter for drawing objects.
 Set of Soil Layers, page 14.
 Soil profiles, page 15.
 Base Plates, page 16.
 Clearance, page 17.
 Couplings, page 17.
 Walls, page 18.
 Loads, page 18.
 Piles, page 19.
 FEA-, page 20.
 Sections, page 20.
 Dimension lines, page 21.
 Text, page 21.
 Stage, page 22.

Windows
GroundSlab supports multiple views for a single document. You can open
any number of windows for each document. Each window can have it’s own
display settings.
 New window: Opens a new window for the current document.

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 Overlapping: Aligns the windows in an overlapping manner.

 Cascade: Align the windows, so no window will overlap another
window.
 Arrange Icons: Arranges all minimized windows.

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Toolbars

Explorer+Pickfilter

On the left hand side of the window you will find a tabbed notebook. One tab
shows the System-Explorer the other the Pickfilter. In the System-Explorer
you are able to select objects from your system and change/delete them, by
using the context popup menu that can be accessed with the right mouse
button. In the Pickfilter you are able to select, which object types you want to
be able for picking. If offers also the possibility to blind out the objects that
should not be valid for picking.
The option "Allow multipick" defines, whether a selection dialog should be
shown, when more objects get into account during picking e.g if more
objects overlap each other in the system.

Standard

New document

Open document.

Save current file.

Undo last action.

Redo last undo.

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Print the current document.

Setup sheet of paper properties. Here setting for the paper size and the
border can be made. Please pay attention that you have to set these values
additionally for your printer.

Shows a WYSIWYG print preview.

Shows the paper and border with a dashed line. Before using this
button you should use “Printing range: all”. Afterwards you can use the
zoom and pan to fit the drawing to the paper

Fits the drawing into the printable range.

Insert new stage after current.

Insert new stage before current.

Change stage properties.

Deletes current stage.

Sets the current stage.

View

Refresh the view.

Pan the whole drawing.

Set current scale.

Zoom, so everything fits onto the screen.

Zooms a specified window.

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Zooms to previous view.

Zoom further.

Zoom closer.

Toggle snap to objects.

Open dialog for grid settings.

Create

Change properties of objects.

Delete objects.

Move objects.

Create a new soil profile.

Create a new base plate.

Create a circular/rectangular base plate.

Couple 2 base plates.

Create a wall at a base plate’s edge.

Inserts points into a base plate.

Create loads on the pile cap.

Add a description text.

Draw horizontal dimension lines.

Draw vertical dimension lines.

Seek a node in the FEA mesh.

Seek for a FEA element.

Creates the FEA mesh. In order to remove the mesh, select “Create /
FEM / Remove mesh”.

SOFiSTiK

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Shows the input file.

Shows the results file (.erg)

Shows the protocol file.

Start WinGKX to view the graphics of the results. (*.plb)

Shows complete results (text + graphics) in URSULA.

Shows animation of the deformations.

Starts the calculation with or without the full version of SOFiSTiK.

Status bar
The status bar informs you about required input, the current command and
you can insert coordinates here. The panes in left to right order are:
Statustext Informs about current command / input required
Snap to Informs you about the object closest to the mouse pointer
objects
Coordinates Position of the mouse pointer
<Coordinate Allows you to input coordinates very easily with the numpad
Input> on your keyboard, alternatively to the space-bar dialog.
The following will only work on the numpad:
For numbers you can input figures 0-9, the negative sign
and a decimal point. A comma will be interpreted as a
decimal point as well.
If only one value is given, it is interpreted as a distance
relative to the last clicked point in the direction of the current
mouse pointers position.
On the numpad the ‘/’ division sign will be shown as a pipe
symbol '|' and it is used for separating the X, Y and Z
components.
The symbol for multiplication '*’ (the asterisk-sign) will be
shown as an at-sign '@' and can be prefixed to indicate the
coordinates are relative to the last clicked point. When
specifying a distance, no prefix is required.
Grid Shows the size of the currently used grid
Scale Shows the scale of the current display
Clock Shows the current time

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GRAF 11

H
HASE 11

Index How to use 6

I
Import 27
input file 11
input of system 7

L
label area 29
A layers 7
loads 9, 18, 33
ASE 10, 11

M
B
menues 27
base plates 16, 33 move 24, 33
Base Plates 11 Move 10
BEMESS 12
blue print 29
O
C Output 11, 12
Overview 5
calculation 34
Calculation 10
Clipboard 27 P
Copy 27 Paste 27
Couplings 17 PFAHL 10
Create 30, 33 Pick filter 23
Piles 19
D Print Preview 27
Printer Setup 27
delete 15, 23, 33 properties 11, 23, 32
dimension lines 21, 33
Dimension lines 6
Drawing Objects 14 R
Redo 27
E
Edit 27 S
editing objects 23 sections 20
Email 27 SEPP 11
example 7 set of soil layers 14
Export 27 SOFiSTiK 10, 33
soil layers 14
F Stage 22
FEA mesh 20, 33
file 27 T
floor sweeps 15 Texts 6, 21
toolbars 31
G
General 6 U
GENF 10 Undo 27

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V
View 27, 32

W
walls 18
window 30
Workspace 27

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