HESYS

HESYS SETTLEMENT / ENGINEERING TRIAL

Tunnel & HDD
settlement analysis.

Model tunnel and HDD ground movement in your browser. Map settlement contours, inspect movement curves and export your results. Explore a separate 2D FE slice for a closer look.

Request trial access →Watch the 38-second demo ↓

Browser-based software · Authorised account access · Development trial, not independently validated for design

See the workflow in 38 seconds.

Change an input, run the assessment and review contours, curves, exports and a separate FE slice.

Silent, captioned walkthrough edited from actual Trial 0.12 screens. Fictional examples; timings are edited. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors. Download video ↓
Read the short walkthrough
  1. Define tunnel geometry and ground-loss inputs.
  2. Change volume loss from 1% to 1.5%, then run the analysis to update the contours.
  3. Review settlement and horizontal movement curves; explore CAD, GIS, Google Earth and Excel exports.
  4. Load and run the separate dry Mohr–Coulomb FE example. Inspect its parameters, mesh, movement field and surface curves.

Development trial; independent engineering validation is required. FE results are separate from empirical map contours. Download the map workspace image ↓

01 / DEFINE THE GEOMETRY

Tunnel and HDD
alignment inputs.

Draw a tunnel on the map or import an alignment. Build HDD profiles from straights and curves, then define bore diameter, duct diameter and assumed annulus closure.

Technical detail

Supported imports include CSV/Excel, DXF, GeoJSON, KML and supported LandXML geometry. Check coordinates, units and datum before applying.

HDD profile with straight and curved elements, alongside a bore and duct cross-section: 600 mm bore, 400 mm duct and 50 percent assumed annulus closure.
Define bore OD, duct OD and a user-selected closure percentage. Here, 50% of the annular area gives 0.07854 m² loss area; this is an assumption, not a time-dependent consolidation prediction.PNG ↓SVG ↓

02 / PUT MOVEMENT ON THE MAP

Settlement contours
in project context.

See settlement contours in map context. Set the contour spacing and choose an assessment method suited to your ground conditions.

Technical detail

Methods include user-defined Gaussian K, O’Reilly–New cohesive surface and Mair clay subsurface options. Current mapping uses WGS84 / UTM zone 30N.

Equal-scale calculated settlement plan with a purple 500 metre tunnel, teal contours at 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 mm and a dashed transverse section A to B.
Calculated example: 6 m diameter, 1% volume loss, K = 0.5 and axis depth varying from 25 m to 30 m. This coordinate-only figure omits the basemap; the live map view is shown above.PNG ↓SVG ↓

03 / DRAW A SECTION. READ THE RESPONSE.

Settlement and
horizontal movement.

Draw a section across the assessment area to inspect settlement and horizontal movement. Set an assessment depth to explore subsurface response.

Technical detail

The example compares surface and 10 m depth results. Ground movement is estimated; utility interaction, strain and damage are not calculated.

Vertical and horizontal movement curves at the surface and 10 m depth, with calculated peak settlement of 8.20 mm and 12.89 mm respectively for the fictional Gaussian example.
Original graphics generated from the HESYS calculation engine. Solid teal is the surface; dashed orange is 10 m depth. This example uses the constant-K approximation.PNG ↓SVG ↓

04 / TAKE THE RESULT FURTHER

Export to CAD,
GIS and Google Earth.

Take contours and alignments into CAD, GIS and Google Earth. Export results to Excel and copy report figures into Word.

Technical detail

DXF uses project metres; KML and GeoJSON use WGS84 longitude/latitude. Check the receiving coordinate system. Basemap tiles are excluded.

HESYS contour and alignment results feeding four export formats: DXF for CAD, KML for Google Earth, GeoJSON for GIS and XLSX for Excel.
Export workflow illustration, not a screenshot of CAD or Google Earth. FE outputs are separate: curve CSV, full result JSON and report PNG images.PNG ↓SVG ↓

05 / EXAMINE A 2D TUNNEL SLICE

Ground profile.
Parameters. Mesh.

Build an idealised borehole or import layer depths from CSV. Assign soil parameters, define the tunnel and lining, then run a meshed 2D slice.

Technical detail

The current FE trial supports dry, drained, small-strain plane strain with linear-elastic or Mohr–Coulomb soil and an elastic lining.

Idealised homogeneous Mohr-Coulomb borehole and material parameters beside the actual 932-node, 1712-element FE mesh around a 6 metre tunnel.
Actual solver mesh for a fictional 80 m × 45 m model. The example shows one homogeneous layer; the tool accepts multiple horizontal layers. No parameters are inferred from the soil name.PNG ↓SVG ↓

Follow the stages.
Review the curves.

Review construction stages, ground-movement fields and selected-depth curves. Export figures and result data for your report.

This fictional example gives 5.553 mm peak surface settlement. FE outputs remain separate from the empirical map contours.

Calculated Mohr-Coulomb vertical displacement field around a tunnel alongside surface settlement and horizontal movement curves, showing 5.553 mm peak surface settlement.
The field shows element-average movement on the undeformed mesh. Surface curves sample nodal displacement. Signs, units and the engineering-trial status are retained in the image.PNG ↓SVG ↓

06 / KEEP THE VISUALS

Product image pack.

Seven PNG images, six editable SVG diagrams and a source note. All models are fictional. Keep the example labels, trial status and map attribution when reusing the images.

Download all images ↓

EXPLORE HESYS SETTLEMENT

Bring your workflow
to the trial.

Discuss your tunnel or HDD ground-movement assessment with Howl Engineering.

Request trial access →Already have access? Open the portal →