Seismic Slope Stability Analysis Using Pseudo-static Approach

Abstract

Ensuring the stability of slopes under the action of an earthquake is always a challenging problem for geotechnical engineers. As earthquake is one of the major factors responsible for the failure of slopes, it becomes necessary to carry out comprehensive research on the stability analysis of slopes subjected to earthquake-induced loads. Many researchers have developed several methods to analyse the stability behaviour of slope, but till now the failure behaviour has not been understood properly because of the complexity of earthquake loading. With the above background, this study presents a numerical analysis, performed in PLAXIS 3D, to investigate the stability of slopes subjected to earthquake-induced loadings using pseudo-static approach. Also, parametric studies have been carried out to better understand the effects of different parameters (soil properties, slope dimensions, earthquake loadings, etc.) on the Factor of Safety (FOS) and displacement of the slope. The stability of a slope is best assessed in terms of its FOS, which is computed by the strength reduction technique. Analyses’ results show that the slope can sustain a maximum displacement of 442.80 mm, while slope height is varied till the failure point keeping all other parameters constant. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2024.