Excavation

[mhm]

Hi,
During the process of excavation modeling, when we were eliminating the desired elements, Gaussian and weight forces caused by the eliminated elements must be imposed on the nodes of eliminated boundaries.
I wonder is this software capable of calculating and imposing these forces on the boundary nodes or these forces should be calculated and imposed manually?
I use OpenSees 2.3.1 .
If anyone could help me about this, I would be thankful

[fmk]

why would the weight of the removed soil elements need to be included? if for some reason you need them you have to add them manually. you could set this up in the script by recording the forces from elements to be removed.

[mhm]

I want to model an excavation in OpenSees, so far, I have to simulate the stage construction process. In this regard, some elements should be omitted. My question is about the forces which should be imposed to the remained part of the boundary. Does the software impose the generated unbalanced force (due to the disturbance of equilibrium at the excavated boundary) automatically or I should impose the nodal forces manually by calculating the ∫(B^T σdv) at the element adjacent to the produced boundary?

[fmk]

the software will automatically see the unbalanced forces at nodes where elements have been removed.

[shanchen]

hi
mhm
i am going to simulate the stage construction process with opensees too, but i can't found a very Effective way, i know how to remove a element from the Structure，but don't know how to add a element to the Structure, can you tell me your way to simulate the stage construction process .
anyway, I will be thankful