Materials Overview
Assign strength models and parameters to each material region.
A model carries a catalog of materials. Each material region in the geometry is assigned one material, and every material defines a unit weight, a fill style, a shear-strength model, optional water properties, and optional elastic properties.
The material catalog
New models start with five default materials (Material 1 through Material 5), each with a unit weight of 20 kN/m³ and a distinct fill color. You can add an unlimited number of custom materials, rename them, recolor them, and delete the ones you do not use.
Materials are edited in two places:
- Define Material Properties modal — the full editor. Open it from the Define Materials button on the Materials sidebar. The modal lists every material on the left; selecting one shows its full property set on the right, organized into the LEM, FEA, and Hydraulic Parameters tabs. Toolbar buttons add, delete, duplicate, and reorder materials.
- Materials sidebar — quick assignment. Use Assign Material to apply a catalog material to a region.
Per-material properties
These properties apply to every material regardless of strength model.
| Parameter | Unit | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | — | Material N | Display name; must be unique. |
| Fill color | — | catalog color | Region fill color. |
| Hatch pattern | — | None | Overlay pattern: None, Diagonal, Cross, Dots, Horizontal, or Vertical. |
| Unit Weight | kN/m³ | 20 | Total (moist/dry) unit weight used for slice self-weight. |
| Saturated Unit Weight | kN/m³ | (= unit weight) | Optional. Enable the checkbox to apply a separate unit weight below the water surface. |
When Saturated Unit Weight is disabled, the material uses its unit weight everywhere. When enabled, the saturated value is applied to the portion of each slice below the assigned water surface.
Shear-strength models
The strength model is selected per material on the LEM tab under Failure Criterion. Four models are available:
- Mohr-Coulomb — effective cohesion and friction angle. The default model.
- Generalized Hoek-Brown — rock-mass strength from intact-rock and rock-mass parameters.
- Generalized Shear Function — a user-defined shear-versus-normal-stress curve.
- Generalized Anisotropic — direction-dependent strength built from other materials.
Water and elastic properties
- Material Water Properties (Hu) — per-material water surface assignment and the Hu pore-pressure coefficient, edited on the Hydraulic Parameters tab.
- Elastic Properties (FEA) — Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio, edited on the FEA tab. Used only by the experimental finite-element analysis.
Tip
The Hydraulic Parameters tab shows different fields depending on the model's Pore Pressure Source. With a defined phreatic surface it shows the water surface and Hu controls; with FEA Groundwater it shows hydraulic conductivity and porosity. See Groundwater Overview.