AI features¶
What only SPX AI has. Everything else is in the SPX manual.
Where the AI acts
On the data input and the model setup — not in the calculation. See the caveat on the product page.
Intelligent PDF reading¶
Extracts boreholes from PDF reports: depths, blow counts and soil descriptions.
The difference from the editable PDF reader that SPX already has lies in the interpretation: the SPX reader works with reports with a predictable layout; the intelligent reading in SPX AI handles format variations, tables with merged cells and non-standard descriptions.
The care it requires¶
Always check the soil classification
Automatic extraction depends on the document. Poor-quality scanned logs, irregular tables and free-text descriptions produce wrong readings — and a wrong reading does not announce itself.
Check the resulting table against the original report, paying special attention to the soil classification: it is what selects \(K\) and \(\alpha\) in Aoki-Velloso, \(C\) in Décourt-Quaresma, \(\alpha_T\) in Teixeira and the factor \(m\) for the springs.
Swapping silty sand for sandy silt reduces \(K\) from 0.80 to 0.55 MPa, 31 % less toe resistance. See conventions.
The extracted table is editable: correct whatever is wrong before calculating.
DWG/DXF plan import¶
Reads the foundation plan and recognises the position of the piles, so coordinates don't have to be entered by hand.
The care it requires¶
Check the count and the positions
Recognition depends on how the plan was drawn — layers, blocks, drawing conventions. Plans with piles on mixed layers, represented by non-standard blocks or with similar-looking auxiliary elements may produce too many or too few piles.
After importing, check the count against the plan and use the 3D view to catch a misplaced pile.
Remember the limits: 200 piles in total and 30 per cap.
Generation commands¶
Generate pile caps and piles by command, instead of filling in field after field.
It is the feature that saves the most time on repetitive projects: one command that generates forty identical pile caps replaces forty identical entries.
Generate, then check in 3D
Generating by command is fast enough that checking becomes the bottleneck. Use the 3D view — a wrong parameter propagates to every generated cap at once, and that is what makes the feature both powerful and dangerous.
Virtual borehole¶
SPX's 3D stratigraphic modelling interpolates the profile between boreholes. SPX AI takes this to a virtual borehole: an estimated profile at a position where there is no borehole.
Range of application
A virtual borehole is interpolation, not investigation. It estimates what is probably between two known boreholes, assuming that the layers vary regularly between them.
It does not replace a borehole, and NBR 6122 still requires the number of boreholes it requires. Irregularly dipping layers, lenses, boulders and abrupt changes are precisely what interpolation does not capture — and they are also what most compromises a foundation.
Use it to understand the ground and justify length decisions; not to waive investigation.
Assistant¶
An assistant built into the interface, for queries while you work.
About the assistant's answers
The assistant helps you operate the program. Like any system of this kind, it can make mistakes — and it has no authority over the formulation.
Design decisions must be checked against the formulation documentation and the standards.