A Simple Monte Carlo Method for Locating the Three-dimensional Critical Slip Surface of a Slope

Based on the assumption of the plain-strain problem, various optimization or random search methods have been developed for locating the critical slip surfaces in slope-stability analysis, but none of such methods is applicable to the 3D case. In this paper, a simple Monte Carlo random simulation method is proposed to identify the 3D critical slip surface. Assuming the initial slip to be the lower part of a slip ellipsoid, the 3D critical slip surface is located by means of a minimized 3D safety factor. A column-based 3D slope stability analysis model is used to calculate this factor. In this study, some practical cases of known minimum safety factors and critical slip surfaces in 2D analysis are extended to 3D slope problems to locate the critical slip surfaces. Compared with the 2D result, the resulting 3D critical slip surface has no apparent difference in terms of only cross section, but the associated 3D safety factor is definitely higher.     

The effects of method of generating circular slip surfaces on determining the critical slip surface by particle swarm optimization

The main objectives of slope stability analysis are evaluating factor of safety for a given slip surface and determining the critical slip surface for a given slope. Factor of safety is usually calculated by limit equilibrium method. The main steps to determine the critical slip surface are generating trial slip surfaces as probable solutions and searching among them to determine the one with the lowest factor of safety. Although the process of searching the critical slip surface received much attention between researchers, the significance of method of generating slip surfaces is seldom addressed in the literature. The authors believe that this ignorance can affect the accuracy of the results of slope stability analysis even in the simplest problems with circular slip surfaces. Consequently, this paper focused on the method of generating circular trial slip surfaces as the simplest mechanism of sliding and considered its effect on determining the critical slip surface. A new method of generating circular slip surface was presented, which is more efficient and less restricted than the conventional method. A computer program was also developed to determine the critical slip surface of slopes by using particle swarm optimization. The performances of the proposed method and developed computer program were verified during comparative studies and sensitivity analysis. Based on the results, the effect of method of generating circular slip surfaces on determining the critical slip surface was confirmed successfully. In all considered problems, the proposed method of generating circular slip surfaces led to the lower values of factor of safety compare with the conventional method.     

蒙特卡洛法与有限元结合搜索边坡临界滑动面

把蒙特卡洛随机搜索法与有限元法相结合,搜索边坡的临界滑动面及其对应的最小安全系数.通过随机跳跃法生成一定数量的初始试算滑动面,根据有限元分析的应力和孔隙水压力结果计算给定滑动面的安全系数,利用随机走步法不断更新试算滑动面,使试算滑动面安全系数不断减小,最终确定边坡临界滑动面及其对应的最小安全系数.本方法通过随机搜索,克服了大多数常规优化方法易陷入安全系数局部极小的问题.数值算例分析说明了本文提出的确定边坡临界滑动面的方法的有效性和优越性.     

Critical Slope and Plasticity

ＩＮＴＲＯＤＵＣＴＩＯＮＤｅｓｐｉｔｅｔｈｅｄｅｖｅｌｏｐｍｅｎｔｏｆｅｌａｓｔｉｃ－ｐｌａｓｔｉｃ－ｖｉｓｃｏｕｓｎｕｍｅｒｉ－ｃａｌｍｅｔｈｏｄｆｏｒｔｈｅａｎａｌｙｓｉｓｏｆｓｌｏｐｅｓ,ｔｒａｄｉｔｉｏｎａｌｔｅｃｈｎｉｑｕｅｓｂａｓｅｄｏｎ...     

基于应变软化的多阶边坡稳定分析

多阶边坡除了最危险滑面需要关注,每级台阶的潜在滑面及其他不满足规范要求的滑面亦需要得到重视。以双台阶边坡和复杂多台阶边坡为例,基于应变软化理论,利用FLAC3D软件分析边坡的剪应变发展规律,根据剪应变的集中带获取边坡的多个潜在滑面。分析滑面的剪入、剪出和滑面中部点的强度参数变化规律,并结合矢量和法分析滑面在应变软化过程中安全系数的演化规律。研究结果表明：采用该方法可获取边坡的最危险滑面及次级滑动面;随着软化的发展,滑面上点的强度参数从峰值强度逐渐降低至残余强度,然而演化的速度不同;随着应变软化过程的发展,所有滑面的安全系数均逐渐降低,最后趋于一个定值。     

Determination of the critical slip surface in slope stability computations

The analysis of the stability of slopes using limiting equilibrium considerations necessitates the determination of the critical slip surface which yields the minimal factor of safety. The numerous methods currently available for slope stability analysis provide a procedure for assigning a factor of safety to a given slip surface, but do not consider the problem of identifying the critical conditions. This paper presents an effective minimization procedure based on dynamic programming by which the minimal factor of safety, and the corresponding surface, are determined simultaneously. This procedure SSDP (Slope Stability by Dynamic Programming), couples the minimization scheme with Spencer's method of slope stability analysis. It may be applied to slopes of any geometry, layering, pore pressure and external load distributions. No arbitrary restrictions are placed on the shape of the slip surfaces, and the analysis satisfies all equilibrium equations. Application of the procedure to slope stability problems reported in the literature shows that for a given slip surface the procedure yields factors of safety which are almost identical to those reported, but in every case a more critical slip surface, with a lower factor of safety, may be found.     

基于随机响应面法的边坡系统可靠度分析

提出了一套基于随机响应面法的边坡系统可靠度分析方法。该方法首先从大量潜在滑动面中筛选出代表性滑动面。针对每条代表性滑动面,采用Hermite多项式展开建立其安全系数与土体参数间的非线性显式函数关系（即随机响应面）。然后,采用直接蒙特卡洛模拟计算边坡系统失效概率。在蒙特卡罗模拟中,采用所有代表性滑动面的随机响应面计算每一组样本所对应的边坡最小安全系数。最后,以两个典型多层边坡系统可靠度问题为例验证了该方法的有效性。结果表明：文中提出的边坡系统可靠度分析方法能够有效地识别边坡代表性滑动面,具有较高的计算精度和效率,并且确定代表性滑动面时无需计算滑动面间的相关系数。同时该方法可以有效地计算低失效概率水平的边坡系统可靠度,为含相关非正态参数的边坡系统可靠度问题提供了一条有效的分析途径。此外,多层边坡可能同时存在多条潜在滑动面,基于单一滑动面（如临界确定性滑动面）或者部分代表性滑动面进行边坡系统可靠度分析均会低估边坡失效概率。     

边坡可靠度分析的一种新的优化求解方法

介绍了Low & Tang提出的一种新的可靠度优化求解方法,并将之用于边坡可靠度分析中：该方法适用于任何概率分布的相关变量,不必计算当量正态均值和方差、相关变量独立变换,直接在变量的原始空间内搜索边坡的最小可靠指标和概率临界滑面,可采用任何合适的约束优化方法进行求解,方法清晰简洁。边坡可靠度分析常用的滑面有2个：最小安全系数（变量均值处）对应的确定性临界滑面和最小可靠指标对应的概率临界滑面,但这2个滑面在有些情况下差别较大,Hassan & Wolff提出了一种简化方法可以方便地获得概率临界滑面,但由于方法简单,受到质疑。通过一系列算例分析,优化求解方法得到的概率临界滑面和Hassan & Wolff的简化方法滑面非常接近,显示了简化方法的有效性,值得在工程实践中推广。     

基于有限元计算的边坡三维滑裂面搜索

提出一种基于有限元计算的边坡三维滑裂面搜索的方法,根据有限元计算的应力结果,计算可能滑裂面的安全系数,然后用遗传算法搜索出最危险滑裂面,并得出相应的安全系数作为边坡的安全度评价指标。该方法的优越性是只需进行一次有限元计算,不需要假定滑裂面,可以用于具有复杂地貌和地质构造的三维边坡。通过算例,验证该方法的可行性和程序的正确性,以大岗山水电站库区边坡工程实例验证该方法的实用性。     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987114001637

In this study, Imperialistic Competitive Algorithm(ICA) is utilized for locating the critical failure surface and computing the factor of safety(FOS) in a slope stability analysis based on the limit equilibrium approach. The factor of safety relating to each trial slip surface is calculated using a simplified algorithm of the Morgenstern-Price method, which satisfies both the force and the moment equilibriums. General slip surface is considered non-circular in this study that is constituted by linking random straight lines.To explore the performance of the proposed algorithm, four benchmark test problems are analyzed. The results demonstrate that the present techniques can provide reliable, accurate and efficient solutions for locating the critical failure surface and relating FOS. Moreover, in contrast with previous studies the present algorithm could reach the lower value of FOS and reached more exact solutions.     

Analytical method for analysis of slope stability

An analytical method is presented for analysis of slope stability involving cohesive and non-cohesive soils. Earthquake effects are considered in an approximate manner in terms of seismic coefficient-dependent forces. Two kinds of failure surfaces are considered in this study: a planar failure surface, and a circular failure surface. The proposed method can be viewed as an extension of the method of slices, but it provides a more accurate treatment of the forces because they are represented in an integral form. The factor of safety is obtained by using the minimization technique rather than by a trial and error approach used commonly. The factors of safety obtained by the analytical method are found to be in good agreement with those determined by the local minimum factor-of-safety, Bishop's, and the method of slices. The proposed method is straightforward, easy to use, and less time-consuming in locating the most critical slip surface and calculating the minimum factor of safety for a given slope. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

样条函数模拟土坡滑动面的效率分析

土坡稳定分析中,二维滑动面通常由一系列点顺序连接产生,并且将点的坐标当作优化变量来搜索临界滑动面,当点的个数较多时会导致优化变量较多;只需给定少量的控制节点,即可利用三次样条函数得到光滑的曲线作为任意滑动面,该法对于含软弱夹层土坡,无需事先指定直线段。利用不平衡推力法计算给定滑动面的安全系数,采取和声搜索算法确定最小安全系数相应的临界滑动面。对3个土坡算例进行了比较分析,比较了常规策略与样条函数方法在模拟土坡滑动面时的效率。     

边坡稳定分析中加速度临界滑动面研究

采用最大加速度也可以评价边坡的安全性。当黏聚力在土的抗剪强度中所占比重较小时,加速度与稳定系数的相关性较好。本文进一步比较加速度临界滑动面与稳定系数临界滑动面的关系,发现对于坡角α≥45°的简单边坡,在ξ < 0.1时,加速度临界滑动面与稳定系数临界滑动面是比较接近的。对于加筋土边坡,在筋材较短时,稳定系数较小的区域分布在筋材末端位置;筋材长度较长时,其位置和区域随着筋材长度的增加不再发生明显变化。但加速度较大的区域几乎都分布在筋材末端。相关机理还需要进一步研究。     

基于方位离散线性化的上限原理有限元法

上限原理有限元法不仅可以得到边坡的安全系数,还可以给出临界滑动面,且具有比极限平衡法更严谨的理论基础,因此,拥有更广阔的应用前景。针对传统的上限有限元法不能考虑强度各向异性的问题,提出了一种新的摩尔-库仑屈服面线性化方法。该方法在对方位角离散化的基础上,建立了线性化的方位离散塑性流动约束方程,丰富了基于线性规划的上限法理论。两个算例结果表明：该方法可以稳定地从极限解的上方收敛;且对边坡进行稳定性分析,若忽略了边坡的强度各向异性,则会高估边坡的稳定性,得到较大的安全系数。     

Critical slip surface and landslide volume of a soil slope under random earthquake ground motions

Finding the critical slip surface and estimating the landslide volume are of primary importance for slope seismic design. However, this may be difficult due to the uncertainty of ground motions. To address this problem, a new method for calculating uncertainties is recommended in this paper, especially for the critical slip surface and landslide volume under random earthquake ground motions. Firstly, a series of intensity–frequency nonstationary random earthquake ground motions were generated based on an improved orthogonal expansion method. A given number of potential slip surfaces were set in a soil slope. Subsequently, the factor of safety (FOS) of each slip surface for all ground motions was calculated and the minimum FOS curves were obtained. It was found that the critical slip surfaces and failure times are uncertain under different earthquakes. The Monte Carlo method was used to verify the accuracy of probability density evolution method (PDEM), and the results of the PDEM and the Monte Carlo method are consistent, meaning that the PEDM has higher computational efficiency. Moreover, the distributions of earthquake-triggered landslide volume and landslide depth were analyzed by considering equivalent extreme events. Both landslide volume and depth exhibit a normal distribution for a homogeneous soil slope. The framework of this study is meaningful for slope seismic design in engineering, for example, the location of critical slip surface can be used for slope reinforcement, and the distribution of sliding volume can be used for disaster assessment.     

基于局部强度折减法的边坡多滑面分析方法及应用研究

边坡最危险滑动面的搜索方法一直是研究的热点,但边坡内部次级滑动面也可能不满足安全设计要求,因此,考虑边坡多条滑动面的分析方法亦应得到关注。在传统强度折减法中,对边坡整个区域的抗剪强度参数进行折减,此方法仅可得到一个临界滑动面和最小安全系数。提出了一种基于局部强度折减法的多滑面分析方法,即首先定义单元安全系数的概念,并且计算边坡每个单元的安全系数,然后自动搜索出单元安全系数处于不同范围内的单元集合,对各个单元集合的强度参数进行折减计算,即可得到不同安全系数对应的滑动面。通过单台阶和双台阶边坡算例验证了该方法的可行性,结果表明,随着安全系数的增大,潜在滑面的深度和潜在滑动区域亦增大。最后把该方法应用到某隧道进口仰坡的稳定性评价中, 通过该方法得到的多级滑动面与现场监测数据吻合较好。     

一种基于强度折减法的次级滑动面分析方法研究

传统强度折减法通常对整个边坡区域进行折减,因而只能得到最小安全系数及对应的最危险临界滑动面。但在工程实践中,边坡的治理范围不能局限于最危险滑动面所包围的区域,不满足规范要求的次级滑动面范围内的坡体亦应得到治理。为了克服传统强度折减法在搜索次级滑动面方面的缺陷,提出了一种新的强度折减法。一般而言,边坡的屈服区域主要集中在滑动面两侧附近,形成一个沿滑动面分布的剪切破坏带,因此,在用强度折减法进行边坡稳定性分析时,只需对剪切破坏带范围内的局部坡体进行折减,则可得到该滑动面的安全系数和滑动面。基于以上认识,假设剪切破坏带沿对数螺旋曲线分布,不断调整对数螺旋曲线的形状以得到不同范围的剪切破坏带,对各种不同的剪切破坏带范围内的坡体进行局部折减计算,即可得到不同的安全系数及对应的滑动面。通过两个边坡算例（单台阶、双台阶）验证了该方法的可行性,并最后讨论了剪切破坏带的宽度对结果的影响。两个算例的计算结果表明,该方法不仅可以得到最危险临界滑动面,亦可得到任意安全系数对应的滑动面。     

Improved Bell's method for the stability analysis of slopes

A new procedure based on the approximation to the total normal pressure along the slip surface is developed to compute the factor of safety of slopes for slip surfaces of all shapes. By taking the whole sliding body, instead of an individual slice, as the loaded object, all the equilibrium equations are formulated according to the three‐moment equilibrium conditions rather than the two force equilibrium conditions and one‐moment equilibrium condition. The system of nonlinear equations deduced in this way is well‐scaled and enjoys excellent numerical properties such as the existence of solution with a positive factor of safety, a nearly unlimited scope of convergence and a rapid convergence rate associated with the Newton method. In the case of ?_u =0—the situation where no drainage and no consolidation are involved, furthermore, the system has a unique solution and the factor of safety has an explicit expression. Some typical examples are analyzed to demonstrate the numerical properties of the proposed procedure. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An improved search strategy for the critical slip surface using finite element stress fields

The finite element method can be used to advantage in slope stability problems. This paper proposes a technique to search for the critical slip surface as well as to define and calculate the factor of safety for the slope, when the finite element method is used to model its formation. First, stresses are estimated at each Gaussian point from the finite element analysis. Then, the global stress smoothing method is applied to get a continuous stress field. Based on this stress field, the factor of safety is calculated for a specified slip surface by a stress integration scheme. An improved search strategy is proposed for a noncircular critical surface which starts with a search method for a circular critical surface. During the search process, points defining a trial slip surface can freely move in the finite element mesh subject to some kinematical constraints. This method can be applied to both the limit equilibrium method and the finite element method. Effects of the slope stress history and soil parameters on the resulting critical surface are investigated.     

土钉墙内部稳定性分析自适应禁忌变异遗传算法

针对土钉墙内部稳定性分析问题,提出一种能同时确定土钉墙任意形状最危险滑动面及相应安全系数的全局优化算法。首先,基于边坡极限平衡法中的Morgenstern-Price法,考虑土钉的加固作用,推导土钉墙安全系数计算公式。然后,分析简单遗传算法（SGA）和禁忌搜索算法（TSA）的不足,引进自适应遗传算法（AGA）,用禁忌变异算子替换自适应遗传算法中的标准变异算子,提出一种新型的混合优化算法--自适应禁忌变异遗传搜索算法（ATMGA）,并将其应用到土钉墙内部稳定性分析领域,建立土钉墙任意形状临界滑裂面稳定性分析优化算法。算例分析表明,（1）与单纯的SGA、TSA以及AGA相比,文中ATMGA法搜索效率高、收敛速度快且能准确地搜索到土钉墙最危险滑动面及其相应的最小安全系数;（2）土钉支护前、后临界滑面位置相差较大,建议在实际工程中对支护后基坑的临界滑面以及相应的安全系数进行重新搜索。