Three-dimensional displacement analysis of slopes subjected to seismic loads

Abstract

Seismic excitation is among the many possible factors contributing to slope failures. Typical design of slopes and analyses of existing slopes are carried out assuming plane strain mechanisms of deformation, and replacing the seismic loading with a uniformly distributed static force. A three-dimensional (3D) analysis of slopes is described in this paper, based on the kinematic theorem of limit analysis. Critical acceleration is calculated for 3D slope failures, and an analysis of a rotating block is executed to develop a solution for displacements of slopes subjected to seismic shaking. The emphasis is more on applying the displacement analysis to a 3D collapse pattern, and less on the choice of ground motion records suitable for the 3D failure analysis of slopes. The analysis is applicable to slopes for which the geometry of the failure pattern is physically confined, as for instance, in the case of excavations. A 3D failure pattern is then expected, and the results of calculations are given for a reasonable range of the width-to-slope-height ratios. The method is illustrated with practical examples.

Three-dimensional limit analysis of seismic displacement of slope reinforced with piles

“…The characteristics of the two slopes are listed in Tables 3 and 4 respectively. Table 3 shows that the critical seismic acceleration coefficients obtained by this method are in line with those presented by [22]. In addition, it is shown in Table 4 that the calculation from this method is slightly lower than the results of [22].…”

“…Table 3 shows that the critical seismic acceleration coefficients obtained by this method are in line with those presented by [22]. In addition, it is shown in Table 4 that the calculation from this method is slightly lower than the results of [22]. This implies that a higher estimation of the displacement is obtained by this method when slope B is subjected to seismic loads.…”

“…Recently, [22] employed the kinematic theorem of limit analysis and described the 3D displacement of slopes subjected to seismic loads. The critical seismic acceleration coefficient is calculated for 3D slope failures.…”

“…The critical seismic acceleration coefficient is calculated for 3D slope failures. In this paper, the critical seismic acceleration coefficients on two example slopes calculated by random iteration method are compared with the results of [22]). The characteristics of the two slopes are listed in Tables 3 and 4 respectively.…”

“…This method was adopted by other researchers to analyze the 2D slope reinforced with geosynthetics or piles [21,16,15]. Recently, this method was utilized in [22] to analyze the displacement of 3D slope subjected to seismic loads. In this present work, this approach is developed to 3D slopes reinforced with on row of piles, so balancing the work rate equation yields…”