University of Warsaw - Central Authentication System
Strona główna

Modelling of geodynamic processes with the finite element method

General data

Course ID: 1300-WMZGES-GES
Erasmus code / ISCED: 07.304 Kod klasyfikacyjny przedmiotu składa się z trzech do pięciu cyfr, przy czym trzy pierwsze oznaczają klasyfikację dziedziny wg. Listy kodów dziedzin obowiązującej w programie Socrates/Erasmus, czwarta (dotąd na ogół 0) – ewentualne uszczegółowienie informacji o dyscyplinie, piąta – stopień zaawansowania przedmiotu ustalony na podstawie roku studiów, dla którego przedmiot jest przeznaczony. / (0532) Earth science The ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education) code has been designed by UNESCO.
Course title: Modelling of geodynamic processes with the finite element method
Name in Polish: Modelowanie zjawisk geodynamicznych metodą elementów skończonych
Organizational unit: Faculty of Geology
Course groups: (in Polish) Przedmiot sugerowny do wyboru na II sem. I roku stud. II st. GES na spec. geologia inżynierska
ECTS credit allocation (and other scores): 2.00 Basic information on ECTS credits allocation principles:
  • the annual hourly workload of the student’s work required to achieve the expected learning outcomes for a given stage is 1500-1800h, corresponding to 60 ECTS;
  • the student’s weekly hourly workload is 45 h;
  • 1 ECTS point corresponds to 25-30 hours of student work needed to achieve the assumed learning outcomes;
  • weekly student workload necessary to achieve the assumed learning outcomes allows to obtain 1.5 ECTS;
  • work required to pass the course, which has been assigned 3 ECTS, constitutes 10% of the semester student load.
Language: Polish
Type of course:

elective courses
Prerequisites (description):

The student should have knowledge related to:

- characteristics of geological processes,

- classification and description of soil properties,

- methods of field and laboratory soil tests,

- issues of elasticity and plasticity of the ground medium
Short description:

The subject consists of 2 hours per week practical training. During the course the methods of modeling landslide processes used in engineering geology are discussed. Students in the computer lab will get familiar with the environment of the ZSoil finite element calculation program, which is designed for numerical modelling of geotechnical problems. In the software they build computational models simulating varied ground-water conditions and modelling the stability of slopes.
Full description:

An important issue in the work of an engineering geologist is the determination of safety coefficients, also known as stability and certainty coefficients, which require the determination of the ultimate load-bearing capacity of the soil mass. The centuries-old tradition of calculating slope stability based on simplified calculation models supported by basic static is in many situations insufficient. The adopted simplifications may lead to underestimation or overestimation of the desired values. When the state of the calculation model evolves in time, the seek values are not only spatial distributions of the searched parameters, but also their changes in time. In such cases it is justified to use numerical calculation methods.

The aim of the course is to prepare students to solve problems related to surface mass movements with the use of computer modelling of the landslide process.
Bibliography: (in Polish)

Abramson L. W., Lee T. S., Sharma S., Boyce G. M. 2002 – Slope stability and stabilization methods.

Cheng Y.M.,Lau C.K. 2008. Slope stability Analysis and stabilization-New Methods and Insight

Commend S., Kivell S., Obrzud R. F., Podleś K., Truty A.,

Zimmermann T., 2016. Computational geomechanics on PC.

Fernandes M.M., Sausa. L.R., Vargas E.A. Azevedo R.F. 2007 . Applications of computational mechanics in geotechnical engineering

Rajapakse R. 2008 . Geotechnical engineering calculations and rules of thumb

Urbański A. 2016. Podstawy projektowania geotechnicznego

Zdravkovic L., Potts D.M.,2001. Finite element analysis In geotechnical engineering.

Zienkiewicz, O.C. & Pande, G.N. 1977. Time dependent multi-laminate model of rocks – a numerical study of deformation and failure of rock masses.

Z_SOIL, 2016. User Manual.
Learning outcomes:

After completion of the course the student:

- understands the rules of numerical modelling in the field of stress-strain soil work

- understands the complexity of the issue of stability of soil and rock slopes

- has knowledge of actual constitutive models of ground

- is able to use the ZSoil calculation software in the basic modelling of stability in two-dimensional and three-dimensional models

- has the ability to assess the stability of slopes by means of numerical simulation
Assessment methods and assessment criteria:

The final grade for the course is given on the basis of the total number of points collected from the reports and the continuous assessment.

The student receives a grade from the course.
Practical placement:

Not applicable

Classes in period "Winter semester 2023/24" (past)

Time span: 2023-10-01 - 2024-01-28
Selected timetable range:
Navigate to timetable
Type of class:
Placement, 30 hours, 10 places more information
Coordinators: Kamil Kiełbasiński
Group instructors: Kamil Kiełbasiński
Students list: (inaccessible to you)
Examination: Course - Grading
Placement - Grading
Course descriptions are protected by copyright.
Copyright by University of Warsaw.
Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28
00-927 Warszawa tel: +48 22 55 20 000 https://uw.edu.pl/ contact accessibility statement USOSweb 7.0.3.0 (2024-03-22)