Manuals, DLLs, and Example Drivers for PM4Silt

  • The following sections provide links for the manuals, dynamic link libraries (DLLs), and example driver files.

Version 1

  • Manual: Boulanger, R. W., and Ziotopoulou, K. (2018). “PM4Silt (Version 1): A silt plasticity model for earthquake engineering applications.”  Report No. UCD/CGM-18/01, Center for Geotechnical Modeling, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, CA. [PDF available here]
  • DLL: modelpm4silt005_64.dll (compiled 1/17/2018). This code was compiled using Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 for use with the dynamic analysis option in FLAC 8. It will not work with earlier versions of FLAC. Place the dll in the Program Files\Itasca\FLAC800\Exe64\plugins\models directory. The dll can be downloaded here (zip file).
  • Calibration aids: A set of single-element simulation drivers are provided for assisting with model calibration. These project files can be downloaded here (zip file).
    • Example driver #1: Monotonic loading in direct simple shear (drained or undrained)
    • Example driver #2: Uniform cyclic stress ratio loading in direct simple shear (drained or undrained)
    • Example driver #3: Strain-controlled loading in direct simple shear to obtain G/Gmax and damping values (drained or undrained)
    • Example driver #4: Post-liquefaction reconsolidation in direct simple shear

Versions 2 and 2.1

  • Changes: Changes in Version 2 relative to Version 1 were modifications to (1) the initial back-stress ratio initialization routine and (2) the stress ratio term in the elastic shear modulus equation.  The only change in Version 2.1 relative to Version 2 was restricting the stress ratio term to less than or equal to unity in the elastic shear modulus equation. These changes did not significantly affect model responses, but calibrations need to be checked/revised when updating from Version 1 to 2 or from Version 2 to 2.1. 
  • Manual: Boulanger, R. W., and Ziotopoulou, K. (2023). “PM4Silt (Version 2.1): A silt plasticity model for earthquake engineering applications.”  Report No. UCD/CGM-23/02, Center for Geotechnical Modeling, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, CA. [February 2023; revised October 2023; a few typos in the manual corrected April 2024] [PDF available here]
  • DLL for FLAC 8.1: Version 2.1 modelpm4silt005_64.dll (compiled 2/2/2023) was compiled using Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 for use with the dynamic analysis option in FLAC 8.1. It will not work with earlier versions of FLAC. Place the dll in the Program Files\Itasca\FLAC810\Exe64\plugins\models directory. The dll can be downloaded here (zip file). 
  • Calibration aids for FLAC 8.1:  An updated set of single-element simulation drivers are provided for assisting with model calibration.  These project files can be downloaded here (zip file).
    • Example driver #1: Monotonic loading in direct simple shear (drained or undrained)
    • Example driver #2: Uniform cyclic stress ratio loading in direct simple shear (drained or undrained)
    • Example driver #3: Strain-controlled loading in direct simple shear to obtain G/Gmax and damping values (drained or undrained)
    • Example driver #4: Post-liquefaction reconsolidation in direct simple shear
  • DLL for FLAC2D 9.00:  Version 2.1 cmodelPM4Silt2D009.dll (compiled 10/9/2023) was compiled using Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 for use with the dynamic analysis option in FLAC2D 9.00. Place the dll in the Program Files\Itasca\ItascaSoftware900\exe64\plugins\cmodel directory. The dll can be downloaded here (zip file).
  • Calibration aids for FLAC2D 9.00:  An updated set of single element simulation drivers for the same four loading conditions listed above were developed for use with FLAC2D. These project files can be downloaded here (zip file).
  • Free-field boundaries for FLAC2D 9.00: The free-field boundary command in FLAC2D can be used with PM4Sand/PM4Silt if the user manually transfers all the properties from the outer edge column elements to the free-field elements. The following file contains instructions and code that have been used to perform this task for different projects. (zip file) 

Scripting Editors

  • Notepad++ is an excellent tool for editing fish files in Windows OS. The following xml file (userDefineLang.zip), prepared by Jose Ugalde, allows Notepad++ to recognize the fish language and highlight the text accordingly. This file can be placed in the user’s hidden folder Username\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++ , and it will show up under the Language tab as a “flac” option.
  • Sublime3 is another excellent text editor for code and markup compatible with both Windows and MacOS. The following repository (https://github.com/katerinaziot/FLAC-Tools) contains a scripting and autocompletion syntax language for Sublime prepared by Katerina Ziotopoulou. Installation instructions can be found under the ReadMe file of the repo.