Connection between Plates : Internal Forces

Question

Hello everyone, 
 Hope you're doing well. 
 I have a diaphragm wall composed of many plates in Plaxis3D. I'm looking for a way to avoid transmission of internal forces from one plate to another. Is there a way to control the connection at the intersections ? 
 (knowing that this wall will be anchored to another behind, will it help if a create a tiny spacing between the plates ?) 
 
 Thank you !

Stefanos Papavasileiou · Accepted Answer

Dear Zakaria, 
 How is that considered in reality? What is the mechanism that is used in reality to avoid transmitting any forces between the panels? That is usually how we start and then we try to find what PLAXIS offers. 
 In general for you could use custom connections and set them to Free for both rotation and translations. Interfaces on both sides are required to make them valid. 
 You can check more information on custom connections on our Reference manual. 
 Note that creating small gaps could introduce low-quality mesh which can cause problems in convergence later on. So, you could do that, but make sure to check your generated mesh quality.

Stefanos Papavasileiou · Answer

Unfortunately I cannot as the local axes depend on the orientation of your plates and I do not have the project. 
 Just head to PLAXIS Output, select the plates and show the local axes under View menu. Then, you can decide based on that.

Connection between Plates : Internal Forces

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