Piled raft — total displacements
Settlement field across a piled raft with the pile group carrying load beneath it.
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PLAXIS 3D.
Full three-dimensional geotechnical FEA — pile groups, tunnel junctions and offshore foundations, where 2D no longer holds. Live PLAXIS 3D training, self-paced e-courses and certification.
Official Bentley Partner
India's longest-running PLAXIS training
2001
Teaching PLAXIS in India
20+ yrs
Hands-on PLAXIS practice
PLAXIS 3D Training
India's go-to for PLAXIS 3D training
India's longest-running PLAXIS training provider — teaching in classrooms since 2001, before PLAXIS joined Bentley. Authorized distributor and Bentley-certified partner. Certified PLAXIS 3D training for geotechnical, foundation and tunnelling engineers — globally-recognised Bentley certificate, free 3D Ultimate licence to learn on.
Who it's for
Built for everyone who models in 3D
Geotechnical engineers
Pile groups, tunnel junctions and excavation corners a 2D section can't capture.
Foundation & offshore engineers
Piled rafts, monopiles and offshore foundations under combined 3D loading.
Tunnelling specialists
TBM and NATM advance, tunnel intersections, cross-passages and station caverns.
Consultants & EPC teams
Deliverable-grade 3D geotechnical analysis and reporting for complex projects.
Students & researchers
Learn PLAXIS 3D with a Bentley certificate and a free 3D Ultimate licence.
Recognised by Bentley Systems
Official Bentley credentials — not a claim, a certification.
Recorded in-house
Watch a 3D model come together
Complete PLAXIS 3D runs, screen-recorded by our engineers — tunnels staged along the drive and loads walked across a carriageway. This is the workflow you practise on our training.
A NATM tunnel staged through PLAXIS 3D. Tunnel defined, excavation phases regenerated along the drive, the sequence calculated phase by phase.
Tunnel designerExcavation phasesStaged construction
Output from our own models
What a 3D result actually looks like
Displacement fields, axial forces and deformed meshes from models our engineers built and ran — the same output you produce on our training.
Storage tank on piles — deformed mesh
Soft-clay tank foundation on a dense pile field, deformed mesh under load.
TBM tunnel excavation — animated
The TBM drive advancing through the mesh, with the computed settlement surface deforming above it — animated straight from PLAXIS 3D Output.
Pile group — axial forces
Axial force N distributed through every pile in the group, read per structural element.
The software you're mastering
Why engineers standardise on PLAXIS
The same industry-standard constitutive-model library as PLAXIS 2D — results stay consistent from a 2D section to a full 3D model.
Foundational
Linear ElasticMohr-CoulombTresca / Drucker-Prager
Advanced hardening
Hardening SoilHS small-strain stiffnessNGI-ADP
Soft & time-dependent
Soft SoilSoft Soil CreepModified Cam-Clay
Rock
Hoek-BrownJointed Rock
Liquefaction (dynamics)
UBC3D-PLM
Your own
User-Defined Soil Models (UDSM)
Field Notes
Real work, from the engineers who do it
Training sessions, project runs, and technical notes our team shares directly from practice — republished here rather than embedded, so the substance stays on the page.
Staged excavation sequencePLAXISTechnical note
In staged finite element analysis, your final result isn't determined solely by your final geometry. It depends heavily on how that geometry was built. Every single stage permanently alters the stress state and deformation history of the soil. Two models can look identical in the final phase, yet yield completely different results if their construction histories diverge.
Jitendra Kumar Pradhan
Technical Support Engineer (Geotechnical Solutions), RAM CADDSYS
Pile-raft load sharingPLAXIS 3DProject note
A recent analysis of a pentagonal piled raft foundation supported by 60 piles revealed valuable insights into soil-structure interaction and load transfer mechanisms. […] Although the piles carry the majority of the load, the raft contributes significantly to the overall foundation performance. This highlights an important aspect of piled raft systems: the raft is not merely a pile cap - it actively participates in load sharing and settlement control.
Jitendra Kumar Pradhan
Technical Support Engineer (Geotechnical Solutions), RAM CADDSYS
TBM face — 3D stress redistributionPLAXIS 3DTechnical note
Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) excavation is an inherently 3D problem. While 2D analysis is useful for rapid preliminary assessments, it completely misses the highly asymmetrical, real-time stress redistributions happening right at the cutting face.
Jitendra Kumar Pradhan
Technical Support Engineer (Geotechnical Solutions), RAM CADDSYS
Capabilities
One engine. Every 3D ground problem.
Everything PLAXIS 2D solves — plus the genuinely three-dimensional problems a cross-section can't capture: pile groups, tunnel junctions, excavation corners and offshore foundations. Same solver and soil models, full 3D.
3D excavations & corner effects
Braced and anchored excavations where corner stiffening, asymmetric support and adjacent-building interaction make 2D plane-strain unconservative — modelled in full 3D.
3D excavations & corner effects
Braced and anchored excavations where corner stiffening, asymmetric support and adjacent-building interaction make 2D plane-strain unconservative — modelled in full 3D.
Tunnel junctions & cross-passages
TBM and NATM advance, tunnel intersections, cross-passages and station caverns — where the geometry and construction sequence are inherently three-dimensional.
Slopes, embankments & dams
Factor of safety by c-φ reduction for genuinely 3D slopes, embankments and dams on soft ground. The true failure mechanism, staged and consolidated.
Consolidation & groundwater
Coupled flow-deformation, consolidation and steady / transient seepage — time-dependent behaviour in full 3D.
Dynamics & seismic
Earthquake, seismic and liquefaction analysis as staged calculation phases, in full 3D.
Pile groups & piled rafts
Full 3D pile-soil-pile interaction, group settlement and load distribution for pile groups and piled rafts that 1D and 2D methods cannot capture.
Scripting & automation
Automate PLAXIS 3D with Python
PLAXIS 3D ships a documented Python remote-scripting API — drive the 3D modeller and calculation kernel from your own scripts. Parametric studies, batch analyses, repeatable workflows. (We cover it in the advanced courses.)
Python remote-scripting API
Build 3D geometry, assign materials, define stages and read results programmatically via the plxscripting interface.
Parametric studies
Sweep soil parameters, geometry or loads across dozens of 3D runs to bracket sensitivity — no manual re-modelling.
Batch & repeatable
Queue and solve calculation phases in bulk, and standardise your firm's 3D analysis workflow into reusable scripts.
Interoperable
Import CAD/BIM geometry, and pair PLAXIS 3D with GeoStudio 3D in the WorkSuite for combined FE and limit-equilibrium.
python — plxscripting
Claude Code
Opus 4.8 — ~/ramcadds-site
> from plxscripting.easy import *
> s_i, g_i = new_server('localhost', 10000)
⏺ plaxis 3d · remote scripting API
g_i.gotostages(); g_i.calculate()
⏺ 12 phases solved · max settlement 24.1 mm
⏺ exported plots + result tables
>Ask Claude to script a parametric study…
Licensing
Need a licence too? Buy the right 3D scope
PLAXIS 3D scales from Standard to Ultimate; PLAXIS 2D covers the problems that don't need genuine 3D. RAM CADDSYS sizes it with you — every course includes a licence to learn on.
PLAXIS 3D
Everyday 3D deformation & safety analysis — genuine three-dimensional soil-structure interaction for pile groups, tunnel junctions and irregular foundations.
PLAXIS 3D includes
- Core soil models — Mohr-Coulomb, Hardening Soil, HS-Small, Hoek-Brown, NGI-ADP, Cam-Clay
- Deformation (plastic) & Safety — c-φ reduction
- Phreatic levels & pore pressure from previous phase
- Staged construction, CAD/BIM import, Python scripting API
PLAXIS 3D Advanced
Everything in Standard, plus consolidation, creep, groundwater flow and the multicore solver.
PLAXIS 3D Advanced includes
- Soft Soil, Soft Soil Creep, Sekiguchi-Ohta, UDCAM-S, Concrete
- Consolidation & creep
- Steady-state groundwater flow (seepage)
- Multicore & parallel calculation, plus design approaches (partial factors)
Plus everything in PLAXIS 3D
- Core soil models — Mohr-Coulomb, Hardening Soil, HS-Small, Hoek-Brown, NGI-ADP, Cam-Clay
- Deformation (plastic) & Safety — c-φ reduction
- Phreatic levels & pore pressure from previous phase
- Staged construction, CAD/BIM import, Python scripting API
PLAXIS 3D Ultimate
Everything in Advanced, plus dynamics — earthquake, vibration & traffic loading — and fully-coupled, time-dependent analysis.
PLAXIS 3D Ultimate includes
- UBC3D-PLM liquefaction model
- Fully coupled flow-deformation, plus dynamics — earthquake, vibration & traffic loading
- Transient, time-dependent & unsaturated groundwater flow
- Dynamic boundaries (free-field, compliant base) & site response
Plus everything in PLAXIS 3D Advanced
- Soft Soil, Soft Soil Creep, Sekiguchi-Ohta, UDCAM-S, Concrete
- Consolidation & creep
- Steady-state groundwater flow (seepage)
- Multicore & parallel calculation, plus design approaches (partial factors)
- Core soil models — Mohr-Coulomb, Hardening Soil, HS-Small, Hoek-Brown, NGI-ADP, Cam-Clay
- Deformation (plastic) & Safety — c-φ reduction
- Phreatic levels & pore pressure from previous phase
- Staged construction, CAD/BIM import, Python scripting API
Which PLAXIS 3D tier do you need?
PLAXIS 3D covers everyday deformation & safety analysis; Advanced adds consolidation, creep, groundwater flow, multicore solver; Ultimate adds dynamics and fully-coupled, time-dependent analysis.
Swipe to compare tiers →
| Capability | PLAXIS 3D | 3D Advanced | 3D Ultimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soil constitutive models | |||
| Core models — Mohr-Coulomb, Hardening Soil, HS-Small, Hoek-Brown, NGI-ADP, Cam-Clay | |||
| Soft Soil, Soft Soil Creep, Sekiguchi-Ohta, UDCAM-S, Concrete | |||
| User-Defined Soil Models (UDSM) | |||
| UBC3D-PLM liquefaction model | |||
| Analysis & calculation types | |||
| Deformation (plastic) & Safety — c-φ reduction | |||
| Consolidation & creep | |||
| Fully coupled flow-deformation | |||
| Dynamics — earthquake, vibration & traffic loading | |||
| Groundwater flow | |||
| Phreatic levels & pore pressure from previous phase | |||
| Steady-state groundwater flow (seepage) | |||
| Transient, time-dependent & unsaturated groundwater flow | |||
| Solver, workflow & scripting | |||
| Staged construction, CAD / BIM geometry import, Python scripting API | |||
| Multicore & parallel calculation | |||
| Design approaches (partial factors) & pseudostatic analysis | |||
| Dynamic boundaries (free-field, compliant base) & site response | |||
Feature scope per the official Bentley PLAXIS 3D product tiers. Every RAM CADDSYS course includes a free PLAXIS Ultimate licence to learn on.
Brochures, official tier matrices and course syllabi — tell us where to send it, and we'll include an edition recommendation.
Looking for PLAXIS 3D Training?
Talk to our team about PLAXIS 3D training and onboarding, or browse the live and self-paced courses on RAM CADDSYS Campus.
Frequently Asked Questions
PLAXIS 3D training and software questions. Talk to us.
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Dubai, AE
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