Conrado Carvalho's Activities

Hydraulic gradient increases with mesh density

Conrado Carvalho — Sun, 15 May 2022 19:01:22 GMT

Hi everyone!

I am currently running a simple 2D groundwater dam model with Plaxis LE and I have found this unexpected behavior when measuring the hydraulic gradient near downstream face: it keeps increasing while triangle elements get smaller and smaller. Maximum hydraulic gradient seems not to be converging to a single value. Also, as gradient gets bigger, it moves toward dam's toe.

The model includes only two different materials: a homogeneous anisotropic dam (kx>ky) and a homogeneous isotropic foundation.

Attached to this post, there is a graphic showing the gradient behavior found.

Has anyone faced this same problem? Is there anything I can do so hydraulic gradient converges?

Thanks in advance!

3D Mesh doesn't generate

Conrado Carvalho — Sat, 24 Jul 2021 19:57:48 GMT

Dear colleagues,

I am facing a problem when generating a mesh for a simple steady state dam flux 3D analysis in Plaxis Groundwater. I am using Designer to generate a model volume and then importing it to Groundwater.

The model is built with three surfaces named "Dam", "Topography" and "Basis" (upper to lower). Every time I use Dam and Topography surfaces together to create a model, Plaxis mesh generation crashes, regardless any region I use. However, when a volume is created not using both surfaces together, it works. It is important to say that while using Designer, no error warning appears.

I've already followed the steps presented in the Tutorial Manual, i. e. fixing intersections and merging surfaces, but nothing appears to work.

Has anyone been through a similar situation and can give a hand with it?

Thanks in advance.

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Sat, 24 Jul 2021 03:20:06 GMT

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