finding help when you need it

Even with software as dead-simple to use as GeoStudio there will be times you need some help knowing how to get something accomplished.

Engineering Books

For a discussion of the theory behind the software, refer to the engineering books.

Each of the eight products (SLOPE/W, SIGMA/W, SEEP/W, etc) has its own book, with over a dozen chapters discussing everything from how to model, to practical modeling tips, to meshing, material properties, boundary conditions, analysis types, interpreting results, and more.

You received a hardcopy of the engineering books at the time the software was delivered to you, but the books are also installed on your computer as PDFs–you can access them from GeoStudio’s Start Page.

The engineering books were updated when we released version 7.1 since that release included many new features.  If you bought GeoStudio 2007 before April 2008 then those new features will not be included in the hardcopy book you have.  However, the books are also installed on your computer as PDFs, and those were updated at the same time you updated your software.

Online Help

The online help is the help window that pops up if you hit F1 in GeoStudio.  From anywhere in the software you can hit F1 to display a help topic describing the current mode, command, or dialog box. 

So what’s the difference between the engineering books and the online help?  I like to sum it up with this:

• The engineering books help you understand how to model using GeoStudio.
• The online help tells you what buttons to press and what numbers to fill in.

We very consciously chose not to write about the theory in the online help, or to write about specific dialog boxes or mouse clicks in the engineering books.  This makes the books an invaluable resource and educational tool even as the software continues to change from version to version, and keeps the online help as a lightweight quick reference. 

Examples

If you’re looking for an example on how to model a certain type of problem, search through our examples online.  We have hundreds of analyses available demonstrating various features, along with PDFs describing the approach.

For example, searching for “rapid drawdown” (go ahead, click the link to see the search results) gives me seven matches.  The fourth one down combines SLOPE/W and SIGMA/W using effective stress, which–what luck!–is just what I’m trying to do.  First I’ll read the PDF to see if it’s worth downloading:

Rapid Drawdown with Effective Stress.pdf

The PDF is eight pages long, with descriptive text, diagrams, figures and equations.  Perhaps it’s all I need to understand how to approach my own problem, or I can download the Gsz file right from the web site:

Rapid Drawdown with Effecive Stress.gsz

Movies

Tutorial movies are especially useful if you are new to a product.  In under twenty minutes (most of the time) the movie will walk you through creating a new analysis, defining the geometry, assigning materials and boundary conditions, solving, and looking at the results.

We currently have one movie per product.  If you’ve installed the Resource CD they are available from the GeoStudio Start Page.  They’re also on the web for everyone else.

The web site also has one additional movie (Function Estimation in SEEP/W 2007), and we hope to be adding more movies throughout the year.

Forums

I have found the Eng-Tips forums to be frequented by knowledgeable and experienced engineers.  Questions and answers are intelligent and professional, and there are often questions about how to model using a specific application, including SLOPE/W or other GEO-SLOPE products.

So if you have questions that aren’t answered in the engineering books or online help, you may want to consult your peers at one of these Eng-Tips forums:

• Slope stability engineering

• Geotechnical engineering other topis

Technical Support

Of course you can always email our support engineers.  We are very proud of the reputation we’ve gained for friendly expert support.  The Support section of our web page describes how to contact us.