Keywords: to optimise, control and analyse safety, Z_SOIL.PC, preprocessor, postprocessor, time required.

Within the framework of all the activities of a civil engineering company, the design of new works is mainly based on the know-how of skilled and experienced engineers as well as on the high performance numerical equipment available in the company in order to optimize, control and check the safety of projected works.

During more than 10 years, a close collaboration with the product's designer has enabled us to make Z_SOIL.PC a high-performance tool for the generation, the calculation and the analysis of results.

Over the years, Z_SOIL.PC [1] has become an essential component of design and analysis in civil engineering construction. An in-depth understanding of the program, which focuses on applications to soils, rocks, structures, and soil-structure interaction mechanics, allows a quick assessment of a multitude complex 2D and 3D civil engineering problems. The program was developed in close collaboration with both engineers specialized in numerical engineering and engineers with a large practical field experience. As a partner in this development, we wish to see in this upgradeable program tomorrow's civil engineering "pocket calculator".

Already today, the capabilities of the program cover a wide spectrum of problems encountered by the civil engineer; and the in-depth knowledge and understanding of underlying theories that our field engineers have, ideally support the optimization- control-safety analysis process. Problems like covered trenches, in soil or in rock tunnels, retaining walls, waterway tunnels, dimensioning and buckling of reinforced lining (manifold, tube elbow, etc.) and all kinds of structures can be solved in a matter of hours, when not minutes.

In order to show how Z_SOIL PC software is efficient, we present the following four analyses:

• Surrounding walls, 2D analysis
• Stability of the working face during a tunnel excavation, 3D analysis
• Strengthening of an existing arch dam with buttress, 3D analysis
• Special metallic structures, 3D analysis

In this paper, we show through these examples, all the program possibilities to generate data and analyze results in terms of time required. Moreover, for instance, the interaction of Z_SOIL PC with a program like AutoCAD allows saving even more time. Draughtsmen trained to use Z_SOIL.PC pre-processor also represent an interesting option to optimize teamwork.

Nevertheless, it is important to remember that even a simple example of numerical modelling, can be a problem, even for engineers who have a large practical field experience but no specialized knowledge in the theories implemented in this software. Today, the tools used to generate data are so user friendly that you can forget most difficulties in relation with numerical simulation. For any example, we also explicit the resulting advantages obtained for the optimization, the control and the safety analysis of new works in project.

Though Z_SOIL.PC is easy to use for the generation of data, we have to remember that it is still to be used by engineers who are specialized in the field of numerical application, especially in order to obtain the maximum efficiency from the product. It is as important to define the model as well as, for example, the boundary conditions. The choice of constitutive laws for the materials is also essential to obtain consistent results.

Today, our company uses Z_SOIL.PC as a pocket calculator. A team of highly trained engineers often makes complete analyses and studies within a few hours or, a few days when more complicated. According to the Clients' demand, the time dedicated to the presentation of reports plays a predominant part compared to the time dedicated to modelling and calculations. That is why it is so interesting to use and benefit from a highly efficient tool such as Z_SOIL PC.

1

Z_SOIL, "User's Manual", Zace Services Ltd, Lausanne, Switzerland; 1985- 2002.

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