Slope Stability and Effectiveness of Treatment Measures during Earthquake

Abstract

Slopes are prone to instability during earthquakes, which will cause geological disasters such as landslides and pose a great threat to people’s lives and property. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the stability of slopes and the effectiveness of treatment measures during earthquakes. In this study, an actual slope in the creeping slide stage was selected and located in an area where earthquakes occur frequently. Once the slope experiences instability, it will produce great damage. Therefore, a finite difference program, Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua in Two Dimensions (FLAC2D), was employed in the numerical simulation to explore the stability of the slope before and after treatment under earthquake action. Different from previous studies, this study explores the effectiveness of various treatment measures on slope stability during earthquake. The computed results show that the stability of the slope is greatly influenced by earthquakes, and the slope displacement under seismic conditions is far larger than that under natural conditions. Three treatment measures, including excavation, anti-slide piles, and anchor cables, can significantly reduce slope displacement and the internal force on anti-slide piles, and improve the stability of a slope during an earthquake. This will provide a valuable reference for the strengthening strategies of unstable slopes. The analysis technique as well as the derived insights are of significance for slope stability and the effectiveness of treatment measures.