Dynamic slope stability analysis for Sabah earthquake

Abstract

An earthquake commonly triggers widespread and destructive damages, which these can include building collapse, tsunami, liquefaction, and landslide. The earthquake that struck the western region of Sabah on June 5th, 2015, with a local magnitude of 5.9, induced severe and extensive land instabilities in areas such as Ranau, Tambunan, Tuaran, Kota Kinabalu, and Kota Belud. Unfortunately, there is only a very limited literature on earthquake induced landslides in Malaysia. Therefore, the aim of this study is to understand the mechanism of earthquake induced landslide at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Ranau using 2D finite element method in RS2. The displacement measured from the slope at SMK Ranau is used to verify the model and the effect of the seismic load has been monitored. A good agreement was found between the numerical model and actual site condition. In depth understanding of earthquake triggered slope failure was successfully studied using the RS2 software.