Comtec Research
Tel: +1 703 222 7538
Fax: +1 703 222 8497
Email: info@comtecresearch.com
Tuna Plus is a New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) tunnel analysis program for use by engineers in tunnel design, construction or supervision.
The software has fully automated built-in pre, main and post processors so users with no numerical analysis experience can analyse NATM tunnels.
Users can analyse tunnels in multi-layered geological medium and calculate linear loads, weight, water pressure, loosening load and support degradation in circular, horseshoe or user defined tunnel shapes.
It will analyse plain concrete and reinforced concrete liners, multi-stage excavations and shotcrete and rock bolt installation.
Graphical outputs include ground surface settlement, tunnel deformed shape and stress in the surrounding medium and shotcrete.
The program runs on IBM PC compatibles under DOS or Windows 95.
Instantel
Tel: +1 613 592 4642
Website: www.blastmate.com
Instantel has harnessed the power of wireless modems, cellular phones and the internet to enable projects to distribute time sensitive data to virtually anywhere in the world.
The company’s E-Link communications strategy gives users – such as project team members and clients involved in quarrying or large civil engineering projects with multiple seismographs – a variety of ways to receive results data within minutes of their becoming available.
A key component of the strategy is the ability to access real-time results over the internet using a standard web browser. The technology is being embraced by Ansvarsbesiktning and Byggmastartjanst of Sweden which are using it to manage one of the most complex monitoring projects ever undertaken in that country.
The scheme is part of the Stockholm Southern Link development and involves around 73 monitoring stations.
The technology is being used to monitor vibrations from blasting and construction to ensure compliance with Sweden’s strict standards for impact on the environment.
Itasca Africa
Tel: +27 11-835-3454
Fax: +27 11-835-3455
Email: iafrica@iafrica.com
Itasca’s FLAC (Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua) is a powerful two-dimensional continuum code for modelling soil, rock and structural behaviour. Used interactively, or in batch mode, it is a general analysis and design tool for geotechnical, civil and mining engineers which can be applied to a broad range of problems in engineering studies.
The explicit finite difference formulation of the code is said to make FLAC ideally suited for modelling geomechanical problems that consist of several stages, such as sequential excavation, backfilling and loading. The formulation can accommodate large displacements and strains and non-linear material behaviour, even if yield or failure occurs over a large area or if total collapse occurs.
FLAC3D simulates the behaviour of three-dimensional structures built of soil, rock or other materials that undergo plastic flow when their yield limits are reached. It uses the same mixed discretisation scheme as FLAC to provide accurate modelling of plastic collapse and flow.
Materials are represented by polyhedral elements within a three-dimensional grid, which is adjusted by the user to fit the shape of the object to be modelled. Built-in primitive shapes allow the generation of a variety of complex geometries. With its graphics facilities, high resolution, colour rendered plots are generated rapidly and a built-in graphics screen mode allows viewing of the model at any stage during creation or solution.
The main features of both of these software are: a large strain simulation of continua, with optional interfaces; an explicit solution scheme, giving a stable solution to unstable physical processes; a library of constitutive models; statistical distribution of any property; structural elements (including non-linear cables) with general coupling to the continuum, shell elements in FLAC3D; built-in language to add user defined features (FISH); and groundwater flow with full coupling to mechanical calculations.
UDEC (Universal Distinct Element Code) is for problems involving jointed rock systems or assemblages of discrete blocks subjected to quasistatic or dynamic conditions. It addresses engineering problems associated with mining, studies of deep underground isolation of radioactive materials, energy resource recovery, stability analysis of dams on jointed rock foundations, earthquake and seismology studies and subterranean structures.
3DEC is the three-dimensional extension of UDEC and is designed for simulating either the quasi-static or dynamic response to loading or rock media containing multiple, intersecting joint structures.
Tel: +1 416 698 8217
Fax: +1 416 698 0908
Email: software@rockscience.com
Rockscience produce software for mining and geotechnical professionals which are designed to deliver breakthrough productivity to clients at reasonable costs, with an emphasis on ease of use. The new release of Rocscience’s elasto-plastic finite element program, Phase2 (5.0) provides the engineer with effective design tools for analysing the support of tunnels.
Liner properties, for example, can be changed at different stages to represent the hardening of shotcrete.
Composite liners can be used to model a second layer of reinforcement while joint elements can be used for simulating slip between the liner and the rock.
New features include the ability to model pore pressure effects and a Swellex/Split-Set bolt model.
Improvements have also been made to meshing tools and data visualisation.
A new program, from Rocscience, RocSupport (2.0), is a quick and simple to use tool for examining the properties and the timing of support installation on the behaviour of circular tunnels
Trimble
Tel: +1 408 481 8000
Fax: +1 408 481 6020
E-mail: trimble_support@com
Forget about lugging around a laptop while carrying a backpack and an antenna sticking up over your head. Keeping track of positional data out in the field is now a much easier proposition with the Pocket GPS from Trimble.
As the name suggests, the 140g global positioning system data gathering gadget should fit in most pockets, and It can exchange data via cable with a variety of equipment such as laptops, pocket PCs and Palm hand held devices.
While it is designed to work with Trimble’s own TerraSynch data maintenance software and its GPS Pathfinder Tools software development kit, the Pocket GPS can also be configured to interact with other third-party programs.
The GPS, which runs for 10 hours on its removable rechargeable battery, has an antenna fitted into a specially designed cap, and an optional waist pouch is designed to carry the unit along with a hand held computer.
VirtualSTEP
Tel: +1 510 265 1201
Fax: +1 510 265 1202
Email: info@virtualstep.com
VirtualSTEP, although relatively new to the tunnelling industry, is quickly becoming one of the premier software developers and service providers of 4D simulation technology for the construction industry in the US.
The VirtualSTEP system integrates design, scheduling, cost analysis and resource management applications on a web-based environment enabling real-time access to live project models.
Project Navigator takes standard 2D AutoCAD or Microstation drawings and converts them into 3D simulations by creating Standard Building Elements (SBE), similar to AutoCAD blocks. These can then be linked to associated activities from the project schedule (converted from pre-existing scheduling software such as Primavera), the attributed information attached to the element relates to resources and materials to complete the actual construction of the Standard Building Element (SBE).
When the simulation is complied, the activities associated with the SBE create a time lapsed view of the progress of construction to date and a look into the future to view ‘proposed’ construction phasing and sequencing.
The entire system is built on a robust database that allows linking of documents to objects within the model, tracking and routing of messages and simplifying the process of updating the model.
Users can also select any SBE in the simulation to view the list of activities and dates that are associated with it. Users can access, review and up-date project information from a laptop or desktop computer.
VirtualSTEP has recently been working with Jacobs Associates on several tunnelling projects in the US. Anthony Miley, senior marketing director for the company said that, by completion of the projects, Jacobs will have a comprehensive and accurate set of ‘as built’ drawings and a record of the complete process.
Miley also states that Jacobs uses the models for two other very important tasks. First they provide progress up-dates and facilitate dialogue with the project owner through the Internet.
Second, they perform phasing co-ordination with the various project contractors to ensure that work can progress smoothly and without interruption.
