Create a stability analysis and set up the problem workspace. Choose options for limit equilibrium or finite element stress methods, pore-water pressures, trial slip surfaces, tension cracks, probabilistic and sensitivity methods, pseudo-static loading, partial factors, convergence criteria, and more.

Create an analysis, and then draw the regions in your domain using CAD-like drawing tools, in 2D or 3D. Alternatively, import AutoCAD DWG or DXF files directly into GeoStudio to create your domain geometry, import 3D geometries from .OBJ files, or import a geological model from Leapfrog via Seequent Central.

Define the material properties for your analysis, assign them to regions on the domain, and then define your initial pore water conditions. Select from a comprehensive list of soil and rock material models including Mohr-Coulomb, undrained, high strength, impenetrable, bilinear, strength as a function of depth, anisotropic strength, generalized shear-normal function, SHANSEP, compound strength, and Hoek-Brown. Define the pore water pressure conditions as either piezometric lines, spatial functions, finite element computed, or Ru and B-bar approaches.

In 2D analyses, define slope reinforcement properties to simulate ground anchors, soil nails, piles, or geosynthetics. Define surcharge loads to simulate a pressure applied over a portion of the ground surface, such as a footing. Any other loads can be modeled on the domain as a point load. You can also specify seismic loading on the domain by setting horizontal and vertical coefficients that represent a force created by seismic or earthquake accelerations. 

Define a set of trial slip surfaces that will be used for computing a critical factor of safety. A number of options for specifying slip surfaces are available, including as entry and exit zones along the ground surface, a grid of slip surface centers and radius tangents, blocks of slip surface intersection points, pre-defined slip surface line segments, or the Cuckoo natural search algorithm.

When your problem is completely defined, start the analysis process in the Solver Manager window. Once the Solver is running, multiple slip surfaces are solved in parallel, allowing for faster performance. The Solver Manager displays the solution progress, allowing you to cancel or stop/restart if necessary. While the solution is in progress, you can look at preliminary results in the Results window.

When the Solver is finished, the critical slip surface is displayed, along with the critical factor of safety. Use a slip surface color map to visualize the variability in factor of safety with slip surface position. You can filter the slip surfaces displayed to a specific factor of safety range.

Interactively select any analyzed slip surface to graphically display the forces on any slice or information about the sliding mass. Display plots of computed results over the slip surface, such as various strength or convergence parameters along each slice. Generate reports of the definition and results, and export into other applications such as Microsoft Excel for further analysis.