properties of line drains

Question

Very urgent, 
 
 Can I use Line drains to simulate the action of a sand drain in PLAXIS 3D? 
 If so where can I change the properties like diameter, permeability and radius of influence of a line drain? 
 kindly help me with this issue. 
 
 Thanks in advance. 
 
 with regards, 
 VairaMuthu C.

Dennis Waterman · Answer

Dear Vaira Muthu, 
 Yes, you can use line drains to model sand drains in PLAXIS. 
 However, as you can read in the Reference Manual, drains in PLAXIS are internal head boundary conditions. Hence, it's not possible or necessary to specify a diameter or permeability. If you would like to have a drain with radius and permeability the only option is to model the drains as cylinders with a sand material set inside. The radius of influence cannot be specified - this is simply not how finite elements works: the radius of influence is a result of the calculation, not an input parameter. 
 With kind regards, 
 Dennis Waterman