GGU-ELASTIC: Starting the program

After starting the program, you will see two menus at the top of the window:

• File

• Info

After clicking on the "File" menu, a previously calculated system can be loaded by means of the "Load" menu item, or a new one created using "New".

The program allows simple system input by moving directly to the "Editor 1/Common systems" menu item after "New" is clicked. The dialog box in this case is expanded somewhat to allow you to select the applicable standard and the required analysis method ("Bishop", etc.).

If you do not want to work with the "Common systems" dialog box, click "No" in the query box or "Cancel" in the subsequent boxes. You will then return to the home screen. The program default standard is "EC 7" and the analysis method used employs circular slip surfaces after "Bishop". You then see ten menus in the menu bar:

• File

• FEM Mesch

• Boundary

• System

• Graphics preferences

• Page size + marginsInfo

• Evaluation

• Info

After clicking one of these menus, the so-called menu items roll down, allowing you access to all program functions.

The program works on the principle of What you see is what you get. This means that the screen presentation represents, overall, what you will see on your printer. In the last consequence, this would mean that the screen presentation would have to be refreshed after every alteration you make. For reasons of efficiency and as this can take several seconds for complex screen contents, the screen is not refreshed after every alteration.

If you would like to refresh the screen contents, press either [F2] or [Esc]. The [Esc] key also resets the screen display to your current image zoom, which is usually preset to 1.0, which corresponds to an A3 or A4 sheet in most GGU programs (see menu item "Graphics preferences/Refresh and zoom").