UTEXAS is a

slope stability Slope stability refers to the condition of inclined soil or rock slopes to withstand or undergo movement; the opposite condition is called slope instability or slope failure. The stability condition of slopes is a subject of study and research i ...

analysis program written by Stephen G. Wright of the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

. The program is used in the field of

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

to analyze

levees A levee ( or ), dike (American English), dyke (British English; see spelling differences), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is an elevated ridge, natural or artificial, alongside the banks of a river, often intended to protect against fl ...

, earth

dams A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, ...

, natural slopes, and anywhere there is concern for

mass wasting Mass wasting, also known as mass movement, is a general term for the movement of rock (geology), rock or soil down slopes under the force of gravity. It differs from other processes of erosion in that the debris transported by mass wasting is no ...

. UTEXAS finds the

factor of safety In engineering, a factor of safety (FoS) or safety factor (SF) expresses how much stronger a system is than it needs to be for its specified maximum load. Safety factors are often calculated using detailed analysis because comprehensive testing i ...

for the slope and the critical failure surface. Recently the software was used to help determine the reasons behind the failure of I-walls during

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Methodology

UTEXAS uses the limit equilibrium method. The user provides the geometry and shear strength parameters for the slope in question and UTEXAS computes a factor of safety against slope failure. The factor of safety for a candidate failure surface is computed as the forces driving failure along the surface divided by the shear resistance of the soils along the surface. UTEXAS employs a fast automatic search algorithm to find the failure surface with the lowest factor of safety with respect to

shear strength In engineering, shear strength is the strength of a material or component against the type of yield or structural failure when the material or component fails in shear. A shear load is a force that tends to produce a sliding failure on a mater ...

. This is the critical failure surface. Alternatively an arbitrary surface can be entered by the user and UTEXAS can determine the factor of safety associated with it. The factor of safety for a shear surface is determined using a procedure of slices. Several different procedures exist and the user can choose among them. Input and output consist of text files. The geologic model is primarily defined using profile lines, which are lines defining the interface between different soil layers. Profile lines are associated with materials, and different materials with different properties can be defined.

Features

The following is a list of some of the more distinct features of UTEXAS: * Automatic Search Grid * Multi-stage analysis * Distributed loads * Line loads * Non-circular slip surfaces * Interpolated pore pressures * Internal soil reinforcement

Version history

* UTEXAS5 - Currently under development * UTEXAS4 - Released in 1999. ** Translated into C++ from Fortran. **

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interface ** Accompanied by TexGraf4 program for displaying results. ** New features: lateral unit weight variation, import of pore water pressure from GMS/SEEP2D, more shear strength options, ability to contour factors of safety, tension cracks * UTEXAS3 - Released in 1990. ** First version with multi-stage analysis. ** Accompanied by GRAPHICS3 program for displaying results. ** New features: Multi-stage analysis. * UTEXAS2 - Released in 1986. ** First version written for PCs. ** New features: Multiple limit equilibrium procedures, more ways to define shear strength, internal reinforcement, input data format improvements. * UTEXAS - Released in 1984. ** Successor to various programs written by Wright between 1969 and 1984 ** Features: Multiple piezometric surfaces, nonlinear shear strength envelope, simulation of seismic loading, noncircular slip surface search algorithm

Related software

* TexGraf - Reads results from UTEXAS and displays them graphically. Also written by Wright * UTEXASED4 - An educational version * GMS – has a pre and post processor for UTEXASGms:Utexas – Xms Wiki
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References

External links

Home page
for STABL.

{{Geotechnical engineering Geotechnical engineering software Hydrogeology software