Solutions for stability of anchored earth slopes subjected to seismic loading

Abstract

The limit analysis approach is paid more attention to in the stability analysis of slopes subjected to seismic loading. However, the solutions obtained from the approaches are in general limited to a designated slope or the same kind of slopes. It seems that a wide applicability of the solutions in their present form is rather difficult. Based on the kinematic theorem and the assumption of combined log-spiral rotational failure mechanism, the integral formulation for expressing the rate of external work rate due to soil weight and seismic loading is derived under the framework of pseudo-static method considering the complex geometrical configurations and the multilayer soils in slopes with multi-row anchors. Further, the work-energy balance equation is established, and the analytical expressions for the global factors of safety (FS) and the yield acceleration coefficient of anchored slopes are obtained by using the strength reduction technique combined with the optimization method. Moreover, the permanent displacement with Newmark's method is also solved. Several representative examples are employed to validate the analytical solutions, and some comparisons of the FSs and the corresponding critical sliding surfaces obtained by various methods are also made. The results show that the analytical approach can yield the high-accuracy solutions and is widely applicable to the seismic stability analysis of complex slopes with multi-row anchors. Finally, a practical case is analyzed using the proposed approach. ©2016, Editorial Office of Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineering. All right reserved.