GeoStudio 2012, December 2014 Release

GeoStudio 2012, December 2014 Release

Below are the changes made to GeoStudio since the previous release.

History

• version 8.14.0 - December 8, 2014

• version 8.14.1 - December 17, 2014 - minor update to fix a few specific bugs (listed at the bottom)

Highlights

The main areas of focus for this release include:

SLOPE/W improvements - Improved convergence using a new nonlinear search algorithm; pseudo-static seismic loading; improved slip surface filtering to remove inadmissible slip surfaces.

Workflow improvements - It is easier to switch between analyses or time steps without losing your train of thought, as many dialogs (such as Draw Graph) will now stay active as you make changes outside of them.

DXF improvements - Import DXFs containing cross-sections defined in 3D, and other DXF improvements.

Performance improvements - Faster, smoother rendering; faster performance when working with larger files; and other performance improvements.

New languages - GeoStudio is now available in French; the Spanish translation has been improved; and Simplified Chinese is available as well. Select your language when installing GeoStudio or change it later using Edit Options.

GeoStudio Preview

The GeoStudio Preview is a preview of the next major release of GeoStudio. It is installed along with GeoStudio 2012 to allow you to try it out with your models and provide us with early feedback if you wish.

The third release of the Preview expands the functionality of GeoStudio, improves the robustness of the engineering solvers, and includes a number of user-interface enhancements to improve workflow. The highlights include:

• Redeveloped AIR/W and CTRAN/W finite element products

• A single phase air transfer analysis in AIR/W

• A diffusion-only analysis in CTRAN/W

• A new SEEP/W formulation for modeling density-driven groundwater flow due to spatial variations in temperature

• A more rigorous formulation in SEEP/W for modeling density-driven groundwater flow due to spatial variations in concentration

• A more rigorous formulation in TEMP/W for modeling forced heat convection with flowing air and water

• Particle tracking in any analysis with water flow or air flow

• Flexibility to enter values in different units

Read more about the GeoStudio Preview here.

All Products

Workflow Improvements

• Feature: Previously any dialog or drawing mode had to be closed before switching to a different analysis. Now many of them can remain open. For example, you can now leave the Draw Graph window open as you change analyses, to compare results across analyses. Similarly you can remain in Draw Material mode as you change analyses, to make changes to materials across many analyses.
• Feature: Add "Current" time selection to Draw Graph, to graph using the time step selected globally.
• Feature: The list of time steps in Draw Graph are updated while solving.
• Feature: An "Apply" button has been added to the Set Units and Scale dialog box to make it easier to test changes to the problem's scale and extents.

DXF Improvements

• Feature: DXF import--via File Import Regions and via Sketch Pictures--is now capable of importing 3D DXF files. When a file's entities are determined to fall on a 3D X-Z plane, they are re-oriented to align with the 2D X-Y GeoStudio plane. The orientation of the 3D DXF plane is determined by calculating the normal vector of the 3D elements. This is currently limited to a single plane in 3D-space.
• Feature: When importing regions from a DXF file, GeoStudio was limited to importing only polylines whose "closed" property was set to "yes". This functionality has been extended to include polylines whose start and end points meet. In addition, GeoStudio now supports importing closed HATCH elements as regions.
• Feature: When using Sketch Pictures to import a DXF, GeoStudio now has improved MTEXT handling, including MTEXT with varying formatting, or rotated MTEXT.
• Feature: TrueType fonts in TEXT and MTEXT styles are retained when importing DXF files using Sketch Pictures.
• Feature: An "Apply" button when importing DXF files as regions or as sketch pictures allows adjustments to be made while importing.
• Bug fix: When using Sketch Image to import a DXF file, entities were painted black instead of using the layer color.

Performance Improvements

• Feature: GeoStudio is much more responsive when working with large files that contain many analyses, many time steps, or a large domain mesh. For example, the files will open much faster, the Solver will start running more quickly, GeoStudio is more responsive while solving, and Results view is much more responsive when you switch between analyses.
• Feature: Improved shell extensions allow Windows Explorer to better handle large .gsz files without becoming unresponsive or crashing.
• Feature: Overall rendering speed has been increased by 200-400%. GeoStudio should now be more responsive when contouring large meshes.

New Languages

• Feature: GeoStudio has been translated into French. (The online help and the engineering methodology books are still in English; let us know if you would like these translated.)
• Feature: The Spanish edition has been updated with new translations, including the ability to display reports and object information in Spanish.

Other Changes

• Feature: For users who opt in, GeoStudio will send anonymous feature and usage information to GEO-SLOPE to help improve the software.
• Change: GeoStudio no longer automatically regenerates its mesh if it was created by a previous version. This change allows GeoStudio to open files created by previous versions faster and makes it easier to compare results with those generated by previous versions.
• Bug fix: GeoStudio could crash when editing the Y-Intercept field in KeyIn Functions for a function that does not cross the y-axis.
• Bug fix: When using multiple Custom Locations in Draw Graph, a node selected twice would produce two graph locations.
• Bug fix: Draw Graph may crash when plotting vs. time, for analyses with time units defined in seconds and large time values (larger than 2e+9 seconds or 75 years).
• Bug fix: Text near the page boundaries would sometimes be cut off when printing or copying the entire page.
• Bug fix: GeoStudio could crash in Draw Mesh Properties when changing a region's corner points.
• Bug fix: GeoStudio could crash during mesh regeneration.
• Bug fix: After deleting the Template Folder path and exiting, GeoStudio would crash the next time it was run.
• Bug fix: GeoStudio could crash while accessing files on a network drive that had been disconnected.
• Bug fix: On a computer with IE11 installed, the list of analyses on the "file information" view overlapped the filename.
• Bug fix: In some rare cases, results may fail to be written to file without any error messages.

SLOPE/W

• Feature: SLOPE/W can now use a new “Root Finder” search method to improve the rate of convergence for some types of limit equilibrium stability problems. This method forecasts the required percentage of the inter-slice force function (lambda) based on previous estimates using a non-linear function. The non-linear prediction can sometimes reduce the number of iterations required to find the converged lambda in comparison to the “Linear” search method.
• Feature: In Draw Graph, the graph of Lambda vs. F of S includes a point indicating the factor of safety returned by the search method.
• Feature: When using the Linear search method in SLOPE/W, you can now control the Lambda value at which a solution must be obtained. Previously, this value was always 0.2.
• Feature: Added the option of doing staged undrained strength seismic analysis using a procedure proposed by Duncan, Wright and Wong (1990).
• Feature: Improved the 3-stage rapid drawdown implementation so that the undrained strengths more closely match published results.
• Feature: Improved the responsiveness of the Slip Surfaces window.
• Feature: Free drainage materials can now be modeled in a SLOPE/W staged analysis by setting the R Envelope parameters to equal the material's Cohesion and Phi values.
• Feature: SLOPE/W now displays more detailed error messages when a slip surface cannot converge to a solution.
• Change: "Probability Functions" are now more appropriately titled "Probabilistic Offset Functions". This more clearly declares that each 'Probabilistic Offset Function" is not automatically fit to the range of the parameter. Instead, the range of each function should be applicable to the range of the parameter(s) to which it is applied.
• Bug fix: GeoStudio could crash when performing a probabilistic analysis with spatial variation when no slip slices were generated.
• Bug fix: GeoStudio could crash in View Slice Information while viewing the results of a SLOPE/W analysis that had a geometrically invalid slip surface.
• Bug fix: A 992 error FOS could be generated when the X and Y coordinates were large (in the millions).
• Bug fix: Some FOS error messages were incorrect in the Sensitivity dialog.
• Bug fix: Some analysis methods, such as Janbu and Bishop, were not showing the correct Applied Lambda in View Slice Information.
• Bug fix: In some cases (when the number of starting points is low) the "optimized" factor of safety may be larger than the critical slip surface.
• Bug fix: The Resistance Reduction Factor was not applied in a geosynthetic reinforcement when the Pullout Resistance was calculated from Interface Adhesion and Interface Shear Angle.

SEEP/W

• Bug fix: When using a unit gradient boundary condition and an anisotropic material, any anisotropy with different Ky/Kx ratios would result in the wrong applied flux at the unit gradient boundary.

SIGMA/W

• Feature: The units displayed in the column header for an X-Velocity displacement boundary function were incorrect.

QUAKE/W

• Change: The analysis type "Equivalent Linear with PWP Only" has been removed. Please use "Equivalent Linear Dynamic" instead.
• Bug fix: The units displayed in the column header for an X-Velocity displacement boundary function were incorrect.

CTRAN/W

• Bug fix: In a particle tracking analysis, the user-defined Starting Time was ignored, and always assumed to be zero. This could result in an overestimated travel distance if the actual Starting Time was non-zero.
• Bug fix: The Particle Shading view preference was not working properly.
• Bug fix: "View Particle Information" could show incorrect values when a different current time is selected.
• Bug fix: Choosing View Mass Accumulation from the menu would instead go to View Particle Information. This was a regression introduced in version 8.13.0.

VADOSE/W

• Bug fix: When using a unit gradient boundary condition and an anisotropic material, any anisotropy with different Ky/Kx ratios would result in the wrong applied flux at the unit gradient boundary.

8.14.1.10087

These additional changes were made in version 8.14.1.10087

All Products

• Feature: An "Apply" button has been added to the Set Units and Scale dialog box to make it easier to test changes to the problem's scale and extents.
• Bug fix: GeoStudio fails to correctly delete old files in its temporary file cache. This can generate unexpected behavior while re-solving existing analyses, such as strange contours or a crash when viewing results after re-solving. To work around this problem, close and re-open GeoStudio after solving.
• Bug fix: File Save As would fail if GeoStudio was unable to write to the original file (such as if the current user did not have permissions or the disk was full).

SLOPE/W

• Feature: Draw Graph performance was improved for analyses with a large number of slip surfaces.
• Feature: Further improved the responsiveness of the Slip Surfaces window.
• Bug fix: An unnecessary error message would be displayed when selecting a slip surface for which no results were available. This was a regression introduced in version 8.14.0.
• Bug fix: Some unnecessary warnings were logged while saving a file as an older version.