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File formats

Rock Mechanics NX works on a single project file and communicates with the survey tools upstream and with the calculation documentation downstream. This page summarizes what you can import and what you can export.

The project file

The project file saves the entire state of the work: the geostructural survey (discontinuity sets with the ISRM parameters, \(S_u\) and RQD), the classifications adopted with their characteristic parameters and the stability verifications set up.

It is a GeoStru NX project file in text format (JSON structure), designed to be reopened at any time to resume or update the processing: you can save a survey, return to it later to add a classification or revise a verification, and regenerate the report without re-entering the data.

A single file for the entire study

Keep the project file together with the field drawings: it already contains the survey, classifications and verifications, so it is sufficient to reconstruct the entire calculation process.

Survey import

The geostructural survey does not need to be re-entered by hand. Rock Mechanics NX interfaces with two GeoStru tools dedicated to survey acquisition and processing:

  • eGeo Compass — acquisition of orientations directly in the field (dip direction and dip of the discontinuities), using the smartphone as a digital compass-clinometer.
  • GMS (GeoMechanical Survey) — processing of the geomechanical survey: joint sets, ISRM parameters and organization of the station data.

The discontinuity sets and orientations surveyed with these tools are imported into the app without manual re-entry, ready for classification and verifications. For the complete picture of the workflow see Complete workflow.

Export

Downstream of the calculation, Rock Mechanics NX produces the documentation of the study:

  • the geomechanical calculation report in Word format, with the survey data, the adopted classifications, the characteristic parameters and the stability verifications;
  • the graphical drawings of the survey and the verifications (projections and survey diagrams, verification schemes).

Details on the content and generation are in Export and report.

What you can import / export

Direction Content Source / destination
Import Orientations and discontinuity sets eGeo Compass
Import Geomechanical survey (ISRM parameters) GMS (GeoMechanical Survey)
Open Survey, classifications and verifications GeoStru NX project file
Save Complete project state GeoStru NX project file
Export Geomechanical calculation report Word document
Export Graphical drawings (survey and verifications) Images / diagrams

Example figures, field files and reference material are collected on the Resources and sample files page.


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