Dear clients,
Over the last two decades, Itasca has trained thousands of scientists and engineers in the use of its products. As Itasca's software products have grown in features and versatility, so has Itasca's commitment to provide the highest level of software training.
From now on, Itasca offers many free webinars dedicated to our codes on Itasca YouTube Channel. We hope that this helps our users in the building of models.
The European Itasca team
Consulting
Itasca Consultants AB (Sweden) carried out FLAC3D modeling to analyze seismically active volumes of LKAB's Kiirunavaara Mine. The results were used to evaluate expected changes in seismically active volumes with planned production. The selected modelling strategies, evaluation of crack initiation via differential stress and plastic failure, and slip on pre-existing discontinuities, was successful in deepening the understanding of seismic behaviour at the Kiirunavaara Mine. Hangingwall seismicity was correlated with the location of plastic failure in the models, as well as differential stress near the production front. Footwall seismicity showed less clear relation with model results, however, many orientations of discontinues have the possibility to slip, and therefore may contribute to seismicity. Patterns in orientations of discontinuities that can slip were consistent in the footwall drifts relative to the active production level, regardless of the depth of production evaluated. Large changes in the general patterns of seismicity are, in general, not expected as production continues. This work will be presented at the upcoming 3rd Nordic Rock Mechanics Symposium, in Helsinki, Oct 11–12, 2017. | ||||
Figure 1 The 3-D numerical stress analysis model. | ||||
Figure 2 Example of seismic events in the hangingwall and plastic failure, Y33 at the end of 2014. Levels shown for reference.
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Itasca Consultores S.L. has been asked to construct a 3D model of the foundation of a wind turbine to analyze the deformations and stresses obtained due to static and seismic loads acting on it. The analysis has been performed using FLAC3D. The model reproduces the octagonal concrete footing with a maximum width of 16 m, the ground and filling around, the concrete slab below the footing, the load transfer platform and the rigid inclusions (modelled as pile elements). Different load hypothesis has been applied acting on the footing, due to static and seismic effects, as a combination of vertical and horizontal forces and moments. Along with the combination of loads, different properties of the surrounding soil were considered, as the effect of the collapse of the soil just below the footing has already been taking into account. Using the combination of the different effects (loads and collapse of the soil) we obtained the settlements, stresses and forces in the piles and the footing in order to calculate the maximum reinforcement needed in the structures against failure.
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Figure 3. Final deformations in piles and footing.
