Master Plaxis 2D – From Fundamentals to Advanced Geotechnical Applications

🌍 About This Tutorial

Plaxis 2D is a finite element software package specifically developed for the analysis of deformation, stability, and groundwater flow in geotechnical engineering projects.

🎥 What You’ll Learn

This free video tutorial series demonstrates how to:

  • Quickly create complex finite element models with the Graphical Input program

  • Visualize results in detail using the Output program

  • Apply numerical modeling techniques to practical geotechnical problems

📚 Covered Applications

The tutorials include real-world case studies, such as:

  • Settlement of circular foundations on sand layers.

  • Stability of road embankments constructed on soft soil, evaluating both long-term drained and short-term undrained stability.

  • Tunnel construction using various techniques, including shield tunnelling with a TBM and the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM).

  • Submerged and dry excavations supported by diaphragm walls, horizontal struts, and prestressed ground anchors.

  • Rock slope stabilization for road cuts, utilizing cable reinforcements and retaining walls to prevent planar failure.

  • Groundwater flow and dewatering applications, such as seepage through embankments and lowering water tables for excavations.

  • Dynamic soil-structure interaction, including vibrations from generators, the process of pile driving, and earthquake analysis of multi-storey buildings.

  • Environmental and specialized geotechnical problems, such as the thermal expansion of a concrete navigable lock, ground freezing for watertight tunnel barriers, and moisture content variations in agricultural fields.

🛠️ Key Skills You’ll Gain

  • Defining soil stratigraphy

  • Creating structural elements

  • Generating finite element meshes

  • Setting up calculation phases

  • Evaluating and interpreting output results

👉 Whether you are a beginner or an experienced engineer, this tutorial will help you master Plaxis 2D effectively in a short time.

Plaxis 2D Tutorial 1A. Settlement of a Circular Footing on Sand – Rigid Footing

This tutorial introduces the basic PLAXIS 2D workflow by analyzing the settlement of rigid circular footing on a sand layer using an axisymmetric model.

Plaxis 2D Tutorial 1B. Settlement of a Circular Footing on Sand – Flexible Footing

This tutorial introduces the basic PLAXIS 2D workflow by analyzing the settlement of flexible circular footing on a sand layer using an axisymmetric model.

Plaxis 2D Tutorial 2. Drained and undrained stability of an embankment

This case simulates the construction of an embankment on clay to evaluate safety factors for both long-term drained and short-term undrained soil stability.

Plaxis 2D Tutorial 3. Submerged construction of an excavation

This case illustrates the multi-stage submerged excavation process for a tunnel, utilizing interfaces for soil-structure interaction and struts for wall support.

Plaxis 2D Tutorial 4. Stabilisation of a rock slope

This tutorial explores road cut excavation in a rock mass, focusing on stabilizing a planar failure along a discontinuity using cable reinforcements.

Plaxis 2D Tutorial 5. Settlements due to tunnel construction

The construction of a shield tunnel using a TBM is simulated to analyze its impact on a nearby pile-founded building, accounting for volume loss and stress redistribution.

Plaxis 2D Tutorial 6. Excavation of an NATM tunnel [GSE]

This case analyzes the staged construction of a tunnel using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) and the deconfinement method to emulate 3D arching effects.

Plaxis 2D Tutorial 7. Dry excavation using a tie back wall [ADV]

A dry excavation supported by concrete diaphragm walls and prestressed ground anchors is modeled, incorporating groundwater flow to determine the new pore pressure distribution.

Plaxis 2D Tutorial 8. Dry excavation using a tie back wall – ULS [ADV]

This tutorial introduces the Design Approaches feature to perform Ultimate Limit State (ULS) calculations for the tie back wall case using partial safety factors for loads and materials.

Plaxis 2D Tutorial 9. Construction of a road embankment [ADV]

This analysis focuses on the time-dependent consolidation of an embankment on soft soil, comparing the efficiency of vertical drains and investigating large-deformation effects through updated mesh settings.

Plaxis 2D Tutorial 10. Excavation and dewatering [ADV]

This tutorial examines the dewatering process in a dry excavation by using wells to lower the groundwater level and analyzing the resulting flow around the sheet pile walls.

Plaxis 2D Tutorial 11. Cyclic Vertical Capacity and Stiffness of a Circular Underwater Footing [ADV]

This tutorial employs the UDCAM-S model to determine the cyclic bearing capacity and stiffness of an underwater foundation subjected to a design storm.

Plaxis 2D Tutorial 12.  Flow through an embankment [ULT]

This tutorial analyzes steady-state and transient groundwater flow through an embankment caused by harmonic river level variations to identify seepage effects.

Plaxis 2D Tutorial 15.  Dynamics analysis of a generator on an elastic foundation [ULT]

This tutorial studies the propagation of vibrations from a generator into the subsoil using dynamic loading, viscous boundary conditions, and material damping via Rayleigh damping.

Plaxis 2D Tutorial 16. Pile Driving [ULT]

This tutorial simulates the dynamic process of pile driving, focusing on irreversible deformations at the pile tip and the generation of local excess pore pressures.

Plaxis 2D Tutorial 17. Free Vibration and Earthquake Analysis of a Building [ULT]

This tutorial analyze dynamic response of a building through free vibration to determine its natural frequency and earthquake loading using free-field and compliant base boundaries.

Plaxis 2D Tutorial 18. Thermal Expansion of a Navigable Lock [ULT]

This tutorial analyze a fully coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical analysis is performed to study how air temperature increases cause thermal expansion and bending in a concrete navigable lock

Plaxis 2D Tutorial 19. Freeze pipes in tunnel construction [ULT]

This case illustrates ground freezing using cooling pipes to create a watertight barrier for tunnel construction, focusing on the coupling between thermal flow and groundwater flow.