LSEV55: Advances in Geotechnical Limit Analysis - 'Hands-On' Training

Registration

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Registration costs £75 (ex. VAT) per delegate. We will contact you following registration to arrange payment, which must be received to confirm your place on the course. Note that participants will be required to bring their own laptop PC and are advised to download and install LimitState:GEO from www.limitstate.com/try-buy/download-geo in advance of the course. A 14-day full license for personal use will be supplied on the day, providing participants access to all the features of the software (see below).

Overview

This course is aimed at practicing engineers wishing to enhance their working knowledge of the use of LimitState:GEO and modern computational limit analysis techniques for geotechnical analysis and design.

By the end of the day, the delegate should have:

• gained a clear working knowledge of the core features of LimitState:GEO and its use to solve limit analysis problems such as analysis and design of footings, retaining walls, embankments and slopes.
• an appreciation of the relationship between the computational limit analysis method used by LimitState:GEO and limit equilibrium methods commonly used in geotechnics.
• an appreciation of ULS design to Eurocode 7 using computational limit analysis and its relationship to previous BS design codes.

Format

The course consists of a series of session blocks. Each session will begin with a short presentation, followed by an intensive hands-on session using LimitState:GEO, built around a practical case study. Specific LimitState:GEO features to be explored will include:

• Use and interpretation of factors of safety (e.g. the LimitState:GEO 'Adequacy factor')
• Material models, drained/undrained analyses, water pressures
• Assessing accuracy, validation and verification
• Eurocode 7 with LimitState:GEO. Use of partial factors.
• Advanced features: modelling soil reinforcement and flexible retaining walls

Benefits

Participants will gain a working knowledge of core and advanced features of LimitState:GEO, enabling users to model any limit analysis problem geometry. Participants will also gain an awareness of the range of applicability of existing ultimate limit state analysis and assessment tools, and a deeper appreciation of the benefits of modern computational limit analysis techniques. All participants will be issued with a CPD certificate recording their attendance.

Who should attend

The training course is designed to benefit practicing geotechnical engineers; civil and structural engineers; those with a responsibility for, or exposure to, geotechnical design. The course is aimed at both new and existing users of LimitState:GEO.  It is recommended that delegates new to computational limit analysis and LimitState:GEO attend the LimitState:GEO seminar on the preceding day. Those delegates with existing experience of LimitState:GEO will have the opportunity to extend their practical knowledge of LimitState:GEO's capabilities.

Software licence and laptops

The course fee includes a 14-day full personal licence for LimitState:GEO.  Delegates should bring their own laptop and will be provided with the full 14-day licence on the day.  This allows delegates to further explore features of LimitState:GEO after the course.

Seminar tutors

The seminar will be delivered by Dr  Colin Smith and Dr Matthew Gilbert, both Senior Lecturers at the University of Sheffield and co-founders of LimitState Ltd.

Dr Smith's research and consultancy work encompasses theoretical and numerical limit analysis techniques in geotechnics, combined with physical modelling work on soil structure interaction. He is the co-developer (with Dr Matthew Gilbert) of the novel Discontinuity Layout Optimization (DLO) numerical limit analysis technique. He sits on the Editorial Advisory Panel of Geotechnique and is secretary to the ISSMGE Technical Committee TC205 on Limit State Design. He has lectured on the principles and application of Eurocode 7 for the past 10 years, focusing both on the functioning of the code and the changes in philosophy from preceding design codes.

Dr Gilbert is a chartered civil engineer who has a longstanding interest in the  application of limit state analysis and design methods. In the field of limit analysis he has published papers on a wide variety of numerical techniques, including: finite element analysis, rigid block analysis, meshless methods and Discontinuity Layout Optimization (DLO). He has received awards for papers from the ICE and IStructE and currently sits on the Editorial Advisory Panel of the ICE Engineering and Computational Mechanics journal..