Settings, Catalogs and Geometry

Every settings dialog, catalog and definition table in JSlope has a query that prints it in the shape its command accepts. You can read a value, change it and send it back, or copy one scenario's settings into another, without retyping whole tables.

Reading settings back

settings.get
settings.get section="compute"
settings.get scenario="scenario-2" section="seismic"

settings.get prints one JSON block per section. scenario= reads another scenario without switching to it. Each section is in the shape its setter takes:

In groundwater, stage times and the manual time step are in the scenario's time unit, and the message names the unit. search and refinement name a width or depth level only when the stored values are exactly that level's values. A half with custom values is left out, and the compute section carries those values. Passing a section back therefore changes nothing. search is empty when neither half matches or the search method has no Search Complexity presets, and then there is nothing to pass back.

Changing settings

Circular searches can be constrained to a point, a finite crossing segment, or an infinite tangent line. Coordinates are in metres. For example:

scenario.settings.apply compute={"searchMethod":"adaptive-circular","surfaceRefinementEnabled":false,"circularFocus":{"type":"point","point":{"x":27.432,"y":9.144}}} advanced={"automaticTensionCrackEnabled":false}

Use {"type":"line","start":{"x":10,"y":0},"end":{"x":50,"y":0}} for a crossing segment, or "type":"tangent" for tangency to the infinite line through those endpoints. compute={"circularFocus":null} removes the constraint. Surface Refinement, automatic tension cracks and other search methods cannot be enabled while a circular focus is active.

project.settings.apply runoutSolverMode="partitioned" changes the Runout solver for every scenario and calibration run, as Project Settings > Runout does. The choices are exact and partitioned. Exact preserves the serial contact order. Partitioned solves independent contact groups in parallel; its results are deterministic across thread counts but can differ from Exact. Applying a different mode clears existing Runout simulation results while retaining particle packing; the selection is saved with the project and supports undo and redo.

project.settings.apply runoutPositionIterations=12 runoutVelocityIterations=8 sets the maximum Runout solver passes per simulation step, as Project Settings → Runout does. The defaults are 6 position and 4 velocity passes; both accept integers from 1 to 1000.

runoutPositionTolerance (metres) and runoutVelocityTolerance (m/s) enable early exit when positive. A tolerance of 0, the default, uses the full count for that solver. These choices apply to every Runout scenario and calibration run, are saved with the project, and support undo and redo. Changing them clears Runout results while retaining particle packing.

scenario.settings.apply takes one JSON object per Scenario Settings section. Without scenarios= it applies to the Scenario Explorer selection: the active scenario and every scenario or group selected with it. The other settings setters (fea.mesh.settings.set, seismic.set, slopeLimits.set, slopeLimits.reset, lem.search.set and lem.refinement.set) apply to the same selection. help scenario.settings.apply lists every key of every section with its unit and allowed values, and the terminal completes keys and values inside the object. Only listed keys are accepted: a misspelt key, a choice that does not exist or a value out of range is refused with a suggestion, and nothing changes. In a script these are refused before any line runs; the Runout timeScale, which is fixed at 0.5, is refused the same way. A key given with its stored value changes nothing.

scenario.settings.apply compute={"slices":50,"iterations":6}
scenario.settings.apply stress={"elasticStressMaterialModel":"elastic-perfectly-plastic","elasticStressAnalysis":{"type":"srf","srf":{"tolerance":0.005}}}
scenario.settings.apply stress={"elasticStressMaterialModel":"elastic-plastic-approximation","elasticStressAnalysis":{"type":"load","approximation":{"loadStageCount":5}}}
scenario.settings.apply stress={"elasticStressMaterialModel":"elastic-perfectly-plastic","elasticStressAnalysis":{"type":"large-strain","largeStrain":{"increments":20,"drivingMode":"displacement","remesh":{"enabled":false}}}}
fea.bc.assign analysis="stress" segments=[2] type="prescribed" uy=-0.05
lem.search.set width="medium" depth="high"
lem.refinement.set width="low" depth="low" enabled=true

The stress material model is elastic, elastic-plastic-approximation (Elastic with plastic approximation) or elastic-perfectly-plastic. A strength reduction analysis needs elastic-perfectly-plastic; a large-strain analysis needs it too, with the CPU solver backend (used automatically for every stress solve) and no joints. The approximation does not run with joints; a combination the scenario cannot solve is refused for that scenario. The approximation's controls are under elasticStressAnalysis.approximation: tolerance, maxIterationsPerStage, loadStageCount and relaxationFactor.

For small-strain Initial Stiffness analyses, elasticStressAnalysis.plastic.initialLoadSteps accepts "auto" or a fixed integer from 1 to 1000. Auto selects the count when the solver prepares each stage; it is preserved when importing RS2 models and saving the project. An active adaptiveSteps object uses its own increment rules and overrides the stored Auto or Fixed choice.

scenario.settings.apply stress={"elasticStressAnalysis":{"plastic":{"initialLoadSteps":"auto","adaptiveSteps":null}}}

lem.search.set sets the Search Complexity width and depth presets for the active scenario's search method, as the Search page of the compute settings does. lem.refinement.set sets the Surface Refinement presets. In both, a half you leave out keeps its values, so lem.refinement.set enabled=false only turns refinement off. Block Search combines width and depth into one surface count, so it needs both.

slopeLimits.set custom=false restores the default slope limits, as slopeLimits.reset does. Default limits span the exposed slope and follow it when the External Boundary changes; custom limits stay where you put them. A pair you leave out of slopeLimits.set keeps each selected scenario's own values, so slopeLimits.set set1=[5,30] moves only the first pair and slopeLimits.set secondSet=false only turns the second pair off. Each scenario is checked with its own other pair; if the windows would overlap in any of them, nothing changes and the message names that scenario. The Slope Limits dialog and dragging the markers send only the pair you changed.

Transient times

Transient groundwater times in commands are in the scenario's time unit, as in the Groundwater dialogs: stage times, time-function point times and the manual time step (groundwaterSetup.integration.timeStep). The unit is days unless you change it.

scenario.settings.apply groundwater={"groundwaterSetup":{"mode":"transient","timeUnit":"days","stages":[{"name":"Day 1","time":1,"calculateFos":true},{"name":"Day 30","time":30,"calculateFos":true}]}}
fea.groundwater.stages.set stages=[{"name":"Day 1","time":1,"calculateFos":true},{"name":"Day 10","time":10,"calculateFos":false}]

Groundwater setup also accepts a mesh-independent prescribed initial field and complete boundary replacement sets. Replacement times use the same selected time unit; an empty set releases all preceding boundary conditions. The steady iteration limit is independent of the transient iteration limit.

scenario.settings.apply groundwater={"groundwaterMaxIterations":500,"groundwaterConvergenceTolerance":1e-10,"groundwaterSetup":{"mode":"transient","timeUnit":"seconds","initialCondition":"prescribed-field","prescribedInitialField":{"type":"uniform-pressure-head","value":100},"stages":[{"name":"End","time":10,"calculateFos":false}],"boundaryStages":[{"id":"release","time":5,"conditions":[]}]}}

Use groundwater.groundwaterBoundaryConditions to replace ordinary conditions. An exterior target uses its zero-based segmentIndex; a coordinate target uses segmentIndex:-1 with geometryTarget set to either {"kind":"nodes","points":[{"x":1,"y":2}]} or {"kind":"segment","start":{"x":0,"y":1},"end":{"x":2,"y":1}}. normal-flux values are m/s, positive inward and negative outward. settings.get section="groundwater" returns these inputs in the setter's shape.

• A timeUnit in the same object sets the unit of the times given with it.
• Changing timeUnit on its own keeps the stored durations and only changes how they are shown.
• A transient setup given without stages gets stages at 1, 10 and 100 days. A steady setup may have no stages; a transient one needs at least one.
• A stage without an id gets the first free id stage-1, stage-2 and so on.
• When the Scenario Settings dialog applies a groundwater edit to several scenarios, it sends the time unit only with stage times or a time step, or when you changed the unit, so each other scenario keeps its own unit.

Materials

material.get id="clay"
material.update id="clay" properties={"cohesion":12,"frictionAngle":27}
material.update id="clay" properties={"probabilistic":{"cohesion":null}}
material.update id="clay" properties={"feaCohesion":8,"residualCohesion":2}
material.update id="clay" properties={"feaCohesion":null}
catalog.reorder kind="material" id="clay" position=0

• material.list lists every material with its unit weight, failure criterion and strength: c, φ, tensile strength and any low-stress envelope for Mohr-Coulomb; UCS and either GSI, mi and D or direct mb, s and a for Hoek-Brown; the point count and stress basis of a shear function; and the base material and row count of an anisotropic material. It then gives the stress-analysis strength (strength.fea): each FEA value with whether it follows its LEM value or is overridden, the tension cutoff and its source, and whether the residual departs from the peak (elastic-brittle-plastic) or equals it.
• The fea* properties (feaCohesion, feaFrictionAngle, feaUcs, feaGsi, feaMi, feaD, feaMb, feaS, feaA, feaTensileStrength) and the residual* properties are null to follow the LEM value (the FEA tension follows the enabled LEM tensile strength, else the cohesion) or the peak; a number overrides it for stress analysis only.
• For Hoek-Brown, hoekBrownParameterInput="direct" uses ucs, mb, s and a in LEM and stress analysis. "gsi" derives the envelope from ucs, gsi, mi and d. Direct input requires positive UCS and mb, s from zero to one, and a greater than zero and at most one.
• For Mohr-Coulomb strength, cohesionDepthEnabled=true applies cohesionDepthRate below the elevation cohesionDatumY in LEM and stress analysis. cohesionMax caps the resulting cohesion; null leaves it uncapped. Cohesion stays at its reference value above the datum. For example, material.update id="clay" properties={"cohesion":10,"cohesionDepthEnabled":true,"cohesionDatumY":5,"cohesionDepthRate":4,"cohesionMax":18} gives 10 kPa at elevation 5 m and above, increasing to 18 kPa at 3 m and below.
• An explicit unitWeight=0 is retained for weightless stress benchmarks. It contributes no self-weight force. Negative unit weights are rejected; LEM requires positive unit weights.
• material.get prints {id, name, properties} with every property. Pass it back with material.update id=… properties=…, or copy the material with material.add id="clay-2" name="Clay copy" properties=…. Each scenario has its own material and support catalogs; scenario= reads another scenario's material, as it does for support.list and region.list.
• Material and support edits, from these commands or Define Properties, apply to the Scenario Explorer selection. Each selected scenario receives only what the edit changed in the active scenario: the changed properties of the same material or support, added entries and deleted entries. Its other values stay its own. A deleted material or support that a selected scenario still uses stays in that scenario, with a warning in the Console.
• material.update merges nested objects (probabilistic, hydraulicModel, generalizedAnisotropic and anisotropyAddon): keys you leave out keep their values, arrays such as angleRangeRows replace the stored array, and a nested null removes that key. The second example removes only the cohesion distribution. {"probabilistic":{}} changes nothing; to clear every distribution, set each one to null. A hydraulicModel with a different type, such as {"type":"simple","volumeCompressibility":0.0002} on a van Genuchten material, replaces the stored model whole, so you can switch models or copy another material's model from material.get.
• catalog.reorder moves one entry, as Move Up and Move Down do in Define Properties. Give exactly one of before=<id>, after=<id> or position=<index from 0>. It works on the "material", "support", "weakLayerJointMaterial", "rock" and "sourceDefinition" catalogs.

Support, Weak Layer/Joint, Rock and Rock Source catalogs

Each catalog in Define Properties has commands that add, change and delete one entry. Each is one undo step and is checked as the Define Properties Apply is.

support.list
support.material.add id="nail" name="Soil Nail" properties={"supportType":"soil-nail","tensileCapacity":150}
support.material.update id="nail" properties={"tensileCapacity":180}
support.material.delete id="nail"

weakLayerJointMaterial.list
weakLayerJointMaterial.add id="bedding" name="Bedding" properties={"color":"#0070c0","lem":{"cohesion":0,"frictionAngle":25}}
weakLayerJointMaterial.update id="bedding" properties={"fea":{"normalStiffness":2e6,"dilationAngle":3}}
weakLayerJoint.add points=[[10,20],[30,28],[42,30]] material="bedding" lemEnabled=true feaEnabled=true

rockfall.catalog.get
rockfall.rock.add id="boulder" name="Boulder" properties={"mass":500}
rockfall.rock.update id="boulder" properties={"mass":750}
rockfall.sourceDefinition.add id="fast" name="Fast" properties={"initialVelocity":{"x":2,"y":0}}
rockfall.sourceDefinition.update id="fast" properties={"rockAllocations":[{"rockId":"boulder","count":200}]}

• support.list lists the support catalog in order; * marks the support material new supports use. Each entry is complete, in the shape support.catalog.update accepts. support.material.update takes the same fields without the id, which goes in id=.
• support.material.add fills any property you leave out with its support type's default (end-anchored unless supportType says otherwise). support.material.update keeps properties you leave out; null means unspecified for nullable properties. Changing supportType resets the engineering properties to the new type's defaults, keeping its identity, name and colour. A property the type does not have is refused.
• End-anchored support uses kind: "anchor". Its tensileCapacity is the effective anchor capacity, with outOfPlaneSpacing, youngsModulus, area and residualCapacity for the member. LEA applies constant capacity; FEM connects a single axial member only at its endpoints. Development lengths, end contributions, pullout and soil-interface properties are unavailable for anchors. A null residual holds peak capacity; zero permits complete loss after peak.
• A support type chosen by command sets the force application and orientation as the Type list in Define Properties does. End-anchored and grouted tiebacks and sheets are active; nails and piles are passive. Piles act perpendicular to the pile, sheets tangentially to the slip surface, and anchors/tiebacks/nails axially. A forceApplication or forceOrientation given with the type is kept.
• weakLayerJointMaterial.list lists the scenario's reusable properties. Each entry has a color, a lem strength group and a fea group for stiffness, strength overrides and other joint controls. LEM supports Mohr-Coulomb and Generalized Shear Function; FEA also supports None (elastic). FEA follows LEM by default. Set a scalar override to null to resume inheritance; strength table overrides replace the whole table. The property colour is the live default for drawn boundaries, with explicit CAD colour overrides preserved. weakLayerJointMaterial.add fills omitted properties with their defaults.
• weakLayerJoint.add draws a boundary through two or more vertices. Without material= it uses the selected property, and it is refused while the catalog is empty. The joint is clipped to the External Boundary: a path that leaves and re-enters becomes several joints, the others with -2, -3 ids, and a path wholly outside is refused. weakLayerJoint.update changes vertices, name, property, visibility, lock or independent lemEnabled/feaEnabled switches; it clips new vertices the same way and refuses vertices that the boundary would cut into several parts.
• weakLayerJoint.setEndCondition id="j-1" end="start" condition="closed" ties the two displacement traces at that exterior endpoint without fixing it in space. Use condition="open" for independent faces. New ends are Open; interior tips have no endpoint action. Imported RS2 mesh ends are read-only. Only FEA-enabled boundaries constrain the generated mesh, even when hidden.
• rockfall.catalog.get prints the Rock and Source definition catalogs in the shape material.catalog.apply rockfall= accepts.
• rockfall.rock.add defaults to the Add button's rock: New Rock, 50 kg, 2500 kg/m³, circular. rockfall.sourceDefinition.add defaults to New Rock Source releasing 100 of the first Rock at zero velocity.
• In the Rock and Rock Source update commands a field you give replaces the stored field whole, and null removes an optional field such as massDistribution. A field every entry needs, such as mass or rockAllocations, refuses null. help rockfall.rock.update lists every field with its unit: mass in kg, density in kg/m³, velocities in m/s, angular velocity in rad/s and the initial rotation in radians (the Define Properties dialog shows it in degrees).
• A delete is refused while the entry is in use (a support material by a Ground Support, a joint material by a joint, a Rock by a Source definition, a Source definition by a Rock Source in any scenario) and, except for joint materials, for the last entry of its catalog.
• Rock and Rock Source catalogs belong to the whole project and need the Rockfall verified account and accepted Terms to change.

rockfall.source.add definition="fast" points=[[12,28]] places a Rock Source that releases a given Source definition; without definition= it uses the first.

Regions

region.list
region.list target="analysis"
material.assign.region material="clay" at=[10,25]
material.assign.region material="sand" region=1

region.list lists regions with their index, material, area (m²) and a point at inside each, which you can pass to material.assign.region at=. With scenario=, the material names come from that scenario's own catalog. material.assign.region assigns a material to one region, picked by a point or by its index in the list:

• In a project that uses the Soil Profile it assigns Soil Profile regions (target="profile"). Analysis regions take their materials from the profile, so target="analysis" is refused.
• Otherwise it assigns analysis regions (target="analysis"), and target="profile" is refused.

The Geometry or Results tab no longer changes which regions are assigned.

FEA definitions

fea.groundwater.get
fea.groundwater.get table="functions"
fea.bc.list
fea.bc.list analysis="stress"

• fea.groundwater.get prints the transient time functions, Transient Total Head overlays, probes and discharge sections in the shape fea.groundwater.define accepts. Function times are in the scenario's time unit. Time functions are shared by every scenario.
• fea.bc.list lists the groundwater boundary conditions, the Transient Total Head overlays and the stress supports by External Boundary segment.

fea.stress.solve needs stage= when the pore pressures come from a transient FEA groundwater analysis, naming the solved stage whose pore pressures to use. Tab completion offers the solved stages. Without a transient result it asks you to run fea.groundwater.solve first, and for a steady analysis or water-table pore pressures stage= is refused.

fea.groundwater.solve
fea.stress.solve stage="stage-2"

Geometry from results

• water.table.fromGroundwater uses the last transient stage, or the steady result when there is none; stage= picks another solved stage. When the result has several water-table lines, polyline= picks one. keepPrevious works only when setting the Water Table.
• runout.failureMass.set takes exactly one of points=, surface= or source="critical". With source="critical" it uses the lowest-FOS critical surface of the stored LEM result, or that of method=.
• rockfall.berm.add at=<x> puts the crest height above the exposed ground at x and runs the faces down at angle until they meet the ground. Height defaults to 2 m and angle to 37°. points=[[x,y],[x,y],[x,y]] instead stores the three points as given. Both take material= for the berm's Rockfall material.

Editing a berm's height or face angle, in the inspector or with domain.entity.update id="berm-1" patch={"bermHeight":3}, keeps its Rockfall material. patch={"materialId":null} clears it.

Editing geometry

cad.points.set id="pl-1" points=[[0,0],[4,0],[4,3],[8,3]]
cad.layer.set id="mesh" colorLight="#1f5fa8" lineWidth=2 opacity=0.8
cad.layers.set visible=true locked=false selectable=true
geometry.simplify minVertexDistance=0.05
geometry.simplify families=["material-boundaries","weak-layers"] colinearDistance=0.01 colinearAngle=1 includeLocked=true
geometry.simplify ids=["water-table"] colinearDistance=0.01

• cad.points.set replaces the vertices of a CAD polyline or polygon, for example to extend it; it needs at least 2 points, or 3 for a closed one. Styles stay on the vertices and segments that remain. Pasting coordinates in Properties > Coordinates runs it.
• cad.layer.set sets the Mesh layer's colour for each theme (colorLight, colorDark), line width (0.5–8 px) and opacity (0–1). Other layers have no colour, width or opacity settings.
• cad.layers.set sets visible, locked or selectable for all layers, including empty layers, in one undo step. The three buttons in the Layers heading run this command. A mixed state shows all, locks all or makes all selectable; clicking again reverses the setting.
• geometry.simplify removes redundant vertices, as Simplify Geometry does, from the External Boundary, Water Table, Material Boundaries and Weak Layers, or only the families= or item ids= you name; every other item stays as it is. Give at least one tolerance. Locked items are skipped unless includeLocked=true, and a vertex whose removal would make Material Boundaries cross is kept. A run that removes nothing adds no undo step.
• domain.entity.update changes a domain item's visibility, lock, name, style or type-specific values, such as a tension crack's waterMode or a load's magnitude; help domain.entity.update lists every key and the items that take it. A tension crack's waterPercent is a fraction from 0 to 1, and a value outside a key's range is refused rather than clamped. An item refuses keys it does not own.
• Select a drawn ground support and use Properties → Support Property to assign a different property from the Support catalog. The terminal equivalent is domain.entity.update id="gs-1" patch={"supportMaterialId":"pile"}. Reassignment preserves the support geometry, invalidates analysis results, and supports undo/redo. Missing property IDs and locked supports are refused.

Imports

project.import.rocfall2
cad.image.import at=[40,30] width=60 name="Site plan"

• project.import.rocfall2 asks about unsaved changes, then for a RocFall2 .fal8 model, and imports it as the current project; it is refused while an analysis runs. Its report gives the analysis method and the number of objects converted, and lists the import limitations, which are also kept in the imported scenario group's description. RocFall2 results are not imported.
• cad.image.import asks for an image and places it on the Images layer as a reference image, width metres wide (20 by default) and centred on at=; without at= it sits above the model, left-aligned with the External Boundary. It then selects the image and opens image calibration. Calibration itself has no command. Like other model edits, an import (including an image dropped on the canvas) waits while an analysis runs or a dialog such as Define Properties is open.

Stress piles

fea.piles.get returns the active scenario's pile properties and pile definitions; scenario= reads another scenario without switching to it. Pass that shape to fea.piles.define definition={...} to replace the active definition. The edit supports undo and is retained in .jws projects.

Each pile names its propertyId, head (start), toe (end), zero-based installStage, headLoad (fx, fy, counterclockwise moment) and total headLoadFactors, one per stress stage. Use m, kPa and kN per pile. Out-of-plane spacing converts pile stiffness and forces to the two-dimensional section. Shaft stiffness is kN/m/m; perimeter multiplies frictional strength. Toe stiffness is kN/m and its compression capacity is kN.

Pile properties select Euler–Bernoulli or Timoshenko bending, E, Poisson ratio, area, inertia, spacing and perimeter, normal/shear shaft stiffness, effective or total soil confinement, optional peak/residual shaft cohesion/friction and shear cutoff, and an optional compression-only toe spring. Elastic shafts omit strength; shaft-only piles omit toe.

Run piles with CPU plane strain and the incremental plastic stress driver. fea.piles.results returns their independent translations/rotations, beam forces, shaft resistance and toe force at the final solved state, together with the convergence status. An import or definition is not a completed solve.