Learning

Customized Training

Customized Engineering Training Courses

Itasca Educational Partnership

ITASCA Academics

Software Tutorials

Command Conversion Tool

Learn how to automatically convert old FLAC3D and 3DEC data files and FISH functions into the most current software version.

PFC 7 Balls in a Box

This tutorial will guide you through the main steps required to build a simple PFC model with 30 interacting balls in a box using the linear contact model.

FLAC3D 6.0 PFC Plugin Conveyor

Technical Papers

The role of rock mass heterogeneity and buckling mechanisms in excavation performance in foliated ground at Westwood Mine, Quebec

Operations at Westwood mine in Quebec, Canada were temporarily halted in May 2015 after three large-magnitude seismic events occurred over two days. The mechanisms leading to these events, which caused severe damage to several accesses, were not well understood at first. This paper presents the key aspects of FLAC3D back-analysis modelling, which include (1) an anisotropic rock mass strength model with properties derived from field and laboratory strength testing, and (2) a scheme to account implicitly for the deconfinement that accompanies buckling around excavations.

Blast Movement Simulation Through a Hybrid Approach of Continuum, Discontinuum, and Machine Learning Modeling

This work presents a hybrid modeling approach to efficiently estimate and optimize rock movement during blasting. A small-scale continuum model simulates early-stage, near-field blasting physics and generates synthetic data to train a machine learning (ML) model. Key parameters such as expanded hole diameter, burden velocity, and gas pressure are obtained through the ML model, which then inform a discontinuum model to predict far-field muckpile formation. The approach captures essential blast physics while significantly accelerating blast design optimization.

Solving rock mechanics issues through modelling: then, now, and in the future?