Frequently asked questions

Yes, as it is easy to set up a 3D model in TSLOPE using surfaces exported from your CAD or geological modelling system. We have provided the daily licence in response to user requirements.

The best way to generate your slope model is to use your geological modelling system, or CAD package.

The 3D surfaces can then be transferred as a cloud of points, or in DXF or OBJ format into TSLOPE.

The licence period starts when the licence is activated on your system, not when payment is made.

TSLOPE allows you to build a model before activating the licence. Licence activation is only required when you click the SOLVE button.

If your licence is still valid, it will stay active in TSLOPE when you update to the latest version.

No extra steps are required. Just download the latest installer here .

TSLOPE calculates the sliding direction automatically as part of the 3D analysis.

Rather than requiring the engineer to assume a direction of movement in advance, TSLOPE searches for the direction associated with the lowest calculated factor of safety.

This is particularly useful where irregular slope geometry, geological structure or weak layers mean that the critical direction may not correspond with the visually obvious downslope direction.

TSLOPE does not currently provide a separate manual trial-and-error process for testing alternative sliding directions.

The calculated direction should still be reviewed against site geology, groundwater conditions, observed movement and other available engineering information.

TSLOPE does not currently provide an automated search for alternative 3D failure surfaces.

Instead, engineers can define failure geometry using a range of surface types, including spherical, ellipsoidal, modelled, composite, planar and wedge basal surfaces.

For a defined 3D failure mass, TSLOPE automatically determines the critical sliding direction associated with the lowest calculated factor of safety.

This approach allows engineers to define potential failure mechanisms based on their understanding of site geology, while TSLOPE calculates the critical sliding direction.

TSLOPE supports a range of common geometry, terrain, GIS and mesh formats, including DXF, OBJ, STL, VTK/VTP, LandXML and GeoTIFF.

These formats allow engineers to work with compatible project geometry and geological surfaces from other modelling environments.

TSLOPE does not provide a dedicated workflow for transferring complete finite element models, including stresses, constitutive models and analysis settings.

In most cases, engineers would use the original geological or terrain model as the basis for their TSLOPE analysis rather than importing a simplified finite element model.

TSLOPE is not limited to a simple hydrostatic water table.

Pore pressures can be represented using water surfaces or piezometric surfaces, water-pressure grids, phreatic-surface corrections and excess pore pressure.

This allows pore-pressure conditions to be defined independently of a simple assumed hydrostatic groundwater profile where suitable site or numerical data are available.

TSLOPE uses the limit equilibrium method for slope stability analysis in both 2D and 3D.

In a 3D analysis, the potential sliding mass is divided into vertical columns rather than the vertical slices used in conventional 2D analysis.

TSLOPE then evaluates the forces acting on the 3D failure mass and calculates a factor of safety.

Spencer's method is available for both 2D and 3D analysis. The same project can also be examined in 2D, allowing engineers to extract a section through a 3D model and compare the resulting factors of safety.

Existing Slide2 models can also be imported into TSLOPE and extended into a 3D model. This provides a practical way to investigate whether assumptions made in a 2D section remain representative when the full slope geometry is considered.

Explore TSLOPE's modelling and analysis features .

TSLOPE provides the calculated factor of safety together with graphical and numerical information that allows engineers to examine how the model is behaving.

Outputs and review tools include:

• 3D failure geometry
• Calculated sliding direction
• Factor of safety
• Local factors of safety
• Forces acting within the model
• Support and reinforcement forces
• Colour plots of analysis data
• Arbitrary cross-sections through the 3D model
• Comparison with a corresponding 2D slope case
• HTML reporting
• GIS, image and selected model-data exports

These tools allow engineers to review not only the final factor of safety, but also the geometry, assumptions and calculated behaviour that produced it.

TSLOPE is a limit equilibrium slope stability analysis program . It does not perform finite element stress-deformation analysis.

Its focus is on 2D and 3D limit equilibrium analysis, including complex three-dimensional geometry, geological surfaces, groundwater conditions, reinforcement and the relationship between failure geometry and sliding direction.

Finite element and limit equilibrium methods answer related but different engineering questions.

FEM can be appropriate where stresses, strains, deformation and progressive material response need to be modelled explicitly.

TSLOPE is designed for engineers who want to assess slope stability and factor of safety using limit equilibrium methods in both two and three dimensions.

No. TSLOPE does not currently provide a quantitative runout-distance analysis.

TSLOPE is designed to assess the stability of a potential failure mass and calculate its factor of safety using limit equilibrium analysis.

It can help determine whether a modelled failure mechanism is stable and examine its geometry and likely sliding direction, but it does not simulate the post-failure movement of the material.

Quantitative assessment of runout generally requires a separate post-failure or mass-movement analysis that considers the behaviour of material after failure.

TSLOPE should therefore be used to assess slope stability and the potential failure mechanism , rather than predict how far failed material will travel.