The global water level for a selected phase can be

The Global water level for a selected phase can be specified in the Water subtree under
the Model conditions in the Model explorer . The drop-down menu displays the available
water levels in the model ( Borehole water levels or User water levels ). More information
on water levels is given in Section 7.9.1.
7.6 TEMPERATURE CALCULATION
In case temperature (or actually a change in temperature) is of influence on the behaviour
of soils or structures (for example thermal expansion or soil freezing), PLAXIS offers the
possibility to take thermal effects into account. The calculation of a temperature
distribution in the ground is based on thermal calculations. Defining whether and how the
238 Reference Manual | PLAXIS 2D 2015

MESHING AND CALCULATIONS
temperature distribution should be calculated can be done by means of the Thermal
calculation type field in the General section of the Phases window.
7.6.1 CALCULATION TYPE
Ignore temperature
In the Ignore temperature option,
no temperature distribution is calculated and the temperature effects are ignored.
Earth gradient
In this option, the (inital) temperature is calculated on the basis of the ThermalFlow
parameters as defined in the Model conditions subtree of the Model explorer (Page
41). This is NOT a finite element calculation.
Use temperatures from previous phase
In this option, the (initial) temperature distribution in the current phase is assumed
to be equal to the temperature distribution (at the end) of the parent phase. This
option can be used to indicate that the calculation kernel should use the temperature
distribution of the previous step (phase) as input for the current deformation analysis.
This option should NOT be used in a steady state calculation (
Δ t
= 0) if clusters change
from active to inactive or vice versa. In that case the temperature needs to be generated
using one of the other options.
Hint: In the case the Calculation type is set to Fully coupled flow-deformation
analysis, this option must be selected in order to take temperature effects
into account. In this case, the temperature from the previous phase is only
used to initialize the temperature at the beginning of the current phase, but it
may still change during the phase as a result of a time-dependent change in
thermal flow boundary conditions.
Steady state thermal flow
The temperature distribution is calculated by means of a steady-state thermal flow
finite element calculation. A steady-state thermal flow calculation is based on the
input of Thermal flow boundary conditions (Section 5.10). It also requires appropriate
thermal model parameters to be entered in the Thermal tabsheet of the Materials window
(Section 6.1.4).
Transient thermal flow
The temperature distribution is calculated by means of a transient thermal flow finite
element calculation. A transient thermal flow calculation is based on the input of
Thermal flow boundary conditions (Section 5.10). It also requires appropriate thermal
model parameters to be entered in the Thermal tabsheet of the Materials window
(Section 6.1.4) and a non zero time interval.