3.1   Drawing Bounds and Units

Drawing Bounds

• The drawing bounds define the area where you can draw lines, piezometric surfaces and specified surfaces, ranges, point loads, and surcharges.

• Note: Search grids can be drawn outside the drawing bounds.

• To set the drawing bounds, select from the tool palette, or select Define Drawing Bounds under the Drawing Menu.

• You will be presented with four blue markers representing the current drawing bounds.
• Click a marker to edit the drawing boundary with text input.
• Drag a marker to graphically move the drawing boundary. If snap-to-grid is enabled, it will snap to the currently displayed grid lines.

Drawing Units

• MacSlope allows the units of length, force, and stress for a drawing to be specified in either Metric (SI) or Imperial (British).

• Note: All material properties and surcharge loads must be specified with units consistent with the selected units for the drawing.
• Note: Changing the drawing units does not automatically convert any of the length, force, or stress values currently specified in the drawing. For this reason, it is a good idea to define the drawing bounds and units before drawing the slope geometry and creating materials, although they can be changed later if necessary.

• To set the drawing units, select from the right toolbar buttons, or select Set Drawing Units under the Drawing Menu.
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• The standard units of length, force, and stress used in MacSlope are the following:

Unit Weight of Water

• To set the unit weight of water, select from the right toolbar buttons, or by selecting Set Drawing Units from the Drawing Menu.
• When changing units from Metric to Imperial or vice-versa, you will need to update the unit weight of water accordingly, generally to the default values listed below.

• MacSlope uses the unit weight of water to calculate pore pressures from piezometric surfaces, and to calculate forces generated from water-filled tension cracks. You should only change the unit weight of water from the default values if you are modeling fluids other than water.
• The default values for the unit weight of water are: