Seismic stability analysis of a layered rock slope

In general, the determination of the factor of safety and the location of the critical slip surface are two major challenges in seismic slope stability analysis. In this paper, a new approach for determining the factor of safety and the corresponding critical slip surface of a layered rock slope subjected to seismic excitations is presented, through a case study based on the combination of the shear strength reduction technique and distinct element method. According to this proposed method, the seismic factor of safety and the critical slip surface of the slope are estimated and compared with those obtained by the pseudo-static approach, combined with the limit equilibrium method. It is found that the factor of safety obtained from the proposed method is slightly greater than that computed by the pseudo-static analysis, with a difference of 4.2%, and that the critical slip surface obtained from the two methods is identical, which confirms the reasonability and feasibility of the proposed method.     

地震效应和坡顶超载对均质土坡稳定性影响的拟静力分析

基于强度折减技术和极限分析上限定理,假定机动容许的速度场破坏面,考虑坡顶超载、水平和竖向地震效应影响推导了边坡稳定性安全系数的计算表达式。采用序列二次规划迭代方法（和内点迭代方法）对边坡安全系数目标函数进行能量耗散最小化意义上的优化计算,与多个算例的对比验证了其方法和程序计算的正确性;对影响土质边坡动态稳定性的一些因素进行了参数分析,分析表明：随着边坡倾角?、坡顶超载q、水平和竖向地震效应影响系数的增大,边坡稳定性安全系数显著下降;随着坡顶超载q、水平地震效应影响系数kh的增大、竖向地震效应影响系数kv的减小,边坡的潜在滑动面越来越深,潜在破坏范围越来越大。竖向地震效应对边坡稳定性也有一定影响,强震条件下的设计计算必须考虑竖向地震效应的影响。     

考虑能量-时间分布的边坡动力可靠性分析新方法

提出一种考虑能量-时间分布的边坡动力可靠性分析方法。该方法将动态最危险滑动面及其稳定系数以时间序列加以刻画,并根据边坡动力反应的能量分布特征,提取持续时间统计窗,用于对上述时间序列的统计分析,以获取边坡动力模糊失效概率、边坡动力可靠度指标和基于保证率的边坡动力稳定系数。以澳大利亚计算机应用协会边坡稳定考核题为例,应用上述新方法考察其在芦山7.0级主震波形条件下的稳定性,研究了在不同统计窗下的边坡动力可靠性。案例分析表明： （1）新方法能够抓住影响边坡动力稳定的主要时间段,使分析结果更为凝练、可信。（2）通过引入边坡失效状态的模糊判别,使得可靠性评价中能够考虑模糊性,解决了以往常规方法区分度不够的问题。（3）基于保证率的边坡动力稳定系数具有很好的应用前景,它在内涵上体现了可靠性分析,在形式上与静力稳定系数的定义兼容,在数值上反映了边坡瞬时动力稳定系数的保守估计值,在实践上与现行规范的拟静力法具有良好的可比性,因而具有多方面的优势。（4）就本案例而言,动力条件下最危险滑动面的发育位置趋向于静力条件下的最危险滑动面,体现了依据静力和拟静力理论框架所进行的防护工程设计,在动力条件下仍然具有积极的意义。（5）新方法对定量研究现行边坡规范的抗震设计冗余提供了一条途径。提出的新方法为边坡抗震研究提供了新的思路、方法和可供参考的实例。     

Seismic Stability Analysis of a Himalayan Rock Slope

The seismic slope stability analysis of the right abutment of a railway bridge proposed at about 350 m above the ground level, crossing a river and connecting two huge hillocks in the Himalayas, India, is presented in this paper. The rock slopes are composed of highly jointed rock mass and the joint spacing and orientation are varying at different locations. Seismic slope stability analysis of the slope under consideration is carried out using both pseudo-static approach and time response approach as the site is located in seismic zone V as per the earth quake zonation maps of India. Stability of the slope is studied numerically using program FLAC. The results obtained from the pseudo-static analysis are presented in the form of Factor of Safety (FOS) and the results obtained from the time response analysis of the slope are presented in terms of horizontal and vertical displacements along the slope. The results obtained from both the analyses confirmed the global stability of the slope as the FOS in case of pseudo-static analysis is above 1.0 and the displacements observed in case of time response analysis are within the permissible limits. This paper also presents the results obtained from the parametric analysis performed in the case of time response analysis in order to understand the effect of individual parameters on the overall stability of the slope.     

A simplified approach for studying the influence of vertical accelerations on seismic response of slopes

ABSTRACT

A simplified approach is presented for estimating permanent displacements in slopes as a result of both vertical and horizontal seismic accelerations. A study of 52 earthquake records showed that the time difference between maximum horizontal and vertical accelerations varied between 0 and 10.3 s. The approach is illustrated for an earth dam embankment by analysing the effects of five of the above earthquake records. The approach combines a pseudo-static slope stability analysis for estimation of the critical (or yield) horizontal-vertical acceleration combinations, and a Newmark type displacement analysis. Guidelines are presented for conservative choice of soil strength parameters of saturated clays for use in the stability analysis. While permanent displacements of up to 40 cm were predicted without considering the vertical acceleration component, no additional displacement above 3.5 cm resulted when this component was included. The predicted additional displacement was consistently less than 10%, and in 50% of the analyses, vertical acceleration led to smaller predicted displacements. The simple approach may be applied in analysis for any slope using real earthquake records. Using existing, empirical expressions for permanent displacement, based only on horizontal accelerations, the effect of the vertical accelerations may be conservatively estimated by increasing the displacement by 10%.     

地震条件下挡土墙主动土压力及其分布的新分析法

采用旋转挡土墙计算模型的变换法,将在地震和拟静力法条件下主动土压力的求解问题转化为在静力条件下主动土压力的求解问题。根据在静力条件下水平层分析法的主动土压力推导结果,直接获得在地震条件下主动土压力强度分布、土压力合力及其作用点位置的表达式,并运用图解法得到了临界破裂角的解析解。公式可考虑水平和垂直地震加速度、不同墙背倾角、墙背和坡面倾角与填料存在黏结力和外摩擦角、存在均布超载等诸多因素的影响,公式可以适用于在常用边界和地震条件下黏性土的主动土压力计算。旋转地震角法是将在地震和拟静力法条件下挡土墙计算模型旋转为在静力条件下挡土墙计算模型,但旋转挡土墙计算模型并不改变挡土墙和墙后填土的应力状态,按在静力条件下挡土墙主动土压力求解方法求解在地震和拟静力法条件下主动土压力,该方法大大简化了在地震和拟静力法条件下的主动土压力计算公式推导过程,统一了在拟静力法条件下的地震土压力求解,理论更加完善。     

Pseudo-dynamic approach of seismic active earth pressure behind retaining wall

Knowledge of seismic active earth pressure behind rigid retaining wall is very important in the design of retaining wall in earthquake prone region. Commonly used Mononobe-Okabe method considers pseudo-static approach, which gives the linear distribution of seismic earth pressure in an approximate way. In this paper, the pseudo-dynamic method is used to compute the distribution of seismic active earth pressure on a rigid retaining wall supporting cohesionless backfill in more realistic manner by considering time and phase difference within the backfill. Planar rupture surface is considered in the analysis. Effects of a wide range of parameters like wall friction angle, soil friction angle, shear wave velocity, primary wave velocity and horizontal and vertical seismic accelerations on seismic active earth pressure have been studied. Results are provided in tabular and graphical non-dimensional form with a comparison to pseudo-static method to highlight the realistic non-linearity of seismic active earth pressures distribution.     

New Method to Compute Seismic Active Earth Pressure on Retaining Wall Considering Seismic Waves

In earthquake prone areas, calculation of seismic active earth pressure on retaining wall is very important. Analytical methods till date for computation of seismic active earth pressure do not consider the effect of Rayleigh wave though it constitutes about 67 % of the total seismic energy. In this paper a new dynamic approach is proposed by considering all possible seismic waves viz. primary, shear and Rayleigh waves for estimation of seismic active earth pressure on rigid retaining wall by satisfying all the boundary conditions. Limit equilibrium method is used for estimation of optimised seismic active earth pressure for a rigid retaining wall supporting cohesionless backfill with critical combinations of seismic accelerations. The seismic influence zone obtained in this study is about 22 and 17 % larger when compared with available pseudo-static and pseudo-dynamic methods respectively, which indicates the significant effect of Rayleigh wave. Also, there is an increase of about 14 and 6 % in seismic active earth pressure coefficient when the present results are typically compared with pseudo-static and pseudo-dynamic methods respectively. Moreover present results compare well with the available experimental results. Present results are more critical for the design estimation of seismic active earth pressure by considering all major seismic waves as proposed in the new dynamic approach.     

Comparison of the pseudo-static and dynamic behaviour of gravity retaining walls

Summary Pseudo-static and dynamic non-linear finite element analyses have been performed to assess the dynamic behaviour of gravity retaining walls subjected to horizontal earthquake loading. In the pseudo-static analysis, the peak ground acceleration is converted into a pseudo-static inertia force and applied as a horizontal incremental gravity load. In the dynamic analysis, an actual measured earthquake acceleration time history has been scaled to provide peak ground acceleration values of 0.1 g and 0.3 g. Good agreement is obtained between the pseudo-static analysis and analytical methods for the calculation of the active coefficient of earth pressure. However, the results from the dynamic analysis require careful interpretation. In the pseudo-static analysis, the increase in the point of application of the resultant active force with the horizontal earthquake coefficient k _h from the one-third point to the mid-height of the wall is clearly observed. In the dynamic analysis, the variation in the point of application is shown to be a function of the type of wall deformation. Both finite element analyses indicate the importance of determining the magnitude of the predicted displacements when assessing the behaviour of the wall to seismic loading.     

Pseudo-dynamic evaluation of passive response on the back of a retaining wall supporting c-Φ backfill

The study presents a rational analytical approach to obtain the seismic passive response of an inclined retaining wall backfilled with horizontal c-Φ soil. Pseudo-dynamic analysis is carried out to obtain the seismic passive response. Here in this analysis, the critical wedge angle is a single one irrespective of weight, surcharge and cohesion and this fact satisfies the field situation in a more realistic manner. A planer failure surface is considered in the analysis. The effect of soil and wall friction angle, wall inclination, horizontal and vertical earthquake acceleration on the passive resistance and the variation of passive earth pressure along the height of the wall have been explored. A comparison to pseudo-static and other available methods have been made to highlight the non-linearity of seismic passive earth pressure distribution.     

Upper bound finite element analysis of slope stability using a nonlinear failure criterion

In this study, upper bound finite element (FE) limit analysis is applied to stability problems of slopes using a nonlinear criterion. After formulating the upper bound analysis as the dual form of a second-order cone programming (SOCP) problem, the stress field and corresponding shear strength parameters can be determined iteratively. Thus, the nonlinear failure criterion is represented by the shear strength parameters associated with stress so that the analysis of slope stability using a nonlinear failure criterion can be transformed into the traditional upper bound method with a linear Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion. Comparison with published solutions illustrates the accuracy and feasibility of the proposed method for a simple homogeneous slope stability problem. The proposed approach is also applied to a seismic stability problem for a rockfill dam to study the influence of different failure criterions on the upper bound solutions. The results show that the seismic stability coefficients obtained using two different nonlinear failure criteria are similar but that the convergence differs significantly.     

锚固岩石边坡地震稳定性拟动力分析

地震易发地区的锚固岩石边坡,需要研究其地震稳定性。对于锚固典型岩石边坡,在考虑水平与竖向地震力、张裂缝积水深度、坡顶超载、锚索倾角、锚索位置、锚索拉力及静水与动水压力等的条件下,运用拟静力和拟动力方法分别推导了不同工况条件下其抗滑和抗倾覆地震安全系数。分析表明,竖向向上地震力有利于锚固岩石边坡的抗滑稳定,而竖向下的地震力有利于锚固岩石边坡的抗倾覆稳定;在相同工况条件下,当岩体放大系数等于1.0时,拟动力与拟静力方法所得锚固岩石边坡地震安全系数相差无几,但是,当岩体放大系数逐渐增大时,拟动力方法所得地震安全系数越来越明显地小于拟静力方法所得地震安全系数。因此,在抗震设计当中适当的考虑岩体放大系数,将会有利于锚固岩石边坡的安全设计。     

边坡稳定有限元分析中的三个问题

对大型有限元软件ABAQUS进行二次开发,提出了自动搜索安全系数的边坡稳定有限元分析模型。在此基础上进行大量变动参数研究,探讨了迭代不收敛、塑性区贯通及等效塑性应变贯通等3种边坡失稳判据的内在联系与适用性,其中迭代不收敛判据易于自动搜索的编程实现,且较少依赖研究者的经验。大多数情况下单元阶次不影响安全系数的确定,但一阶单元有时可能高估安全系数,建议采用二阶单元。基于更新拉格朗日格式实施边坡稳定大变形有限元分析,结果表明迭代不收敛准则不适用于大变形分析。     

Reliability analysis of slope stability under seismic condition during a given exposure time

Evaluating the failure probability of a slope under the seismic condition during a given exposure time is important for performance-based assessment of slope stability. In this paper, a two-stage method is suggested to study the seismic stability of a slope during a given exposure time. In the first stage, the exceedance probability of the horizontal pseudo-static acceleration is evaluated. In the second stage, the vulnerability curve of the slope, which shows the relationship between the horizontal pseudo-static acceleration and the failure probability of the slope, is established. The failure probability of the slope during a given exposure time is then assessed by combining the exceedance probability curve of the horizontal pseudo-static acceleration and the vulnerability curve of the slope. Examples investigated show that the reliability of a slope under the seismic condition is controlled by multiple slip surfaces. A slope may have different failure probabilities during the same exposure time when it is at different locations because of different levels of ground shaking. Event at the same site, different slopes may have different failure probability because of the difference in factors like slope geometries and geological conditions. The method suggested in this paper can be used to quantify the effect of the above factors on the reliability of a slope.     

Computations of Seismic Passive Resistance and Uplift Capacity of Horizontal Strip Anchors in Sand

In this paper, the limit equilibrium method is used to compute seismic passive earth pressure coefficients and the vertical uplift capacity of horizontal strip anchors in presence of both horizontal and vertical pseudo-static earthquake forces. By considering a simple planar failure surface, distribution of soil reaction is obtained through the use of Kötter’s equation. Presence of pseudo-static seismic forces induces a considerable reduction in the seismic passive earth pressure coefficients. The reduction in seismic passive earth pressure coefficients increases with increase in magnitude of the earthquake accelerations in both horizontal and vertical directions and with increase in wall friction angle. The vertical uplift capacity of horizontal strip anchor is obtained for various values of soil friction angle, embedment ratio and seismic acceleration coefficients in both horizontal and vertical directions by using rigorous computational optimization. Proper justification for selected value of wall friction angle is established. Results are presented in the form of non-dimensional breakout factor for anchor. A significant reduction in breakout factor is observed in presence of both the seismic acceleration coefficients whereas breakout factor increases with increase in soil friction angle and embedment ratio even under the seismic condition. Angles of failure planes keep changing with change in seismic acceleration coefficients and failure zone shifts towards the critical direction of seismic acceleration coefficients. Present results are compared and found in good agreement with some specific available results in literature.     

地震效应下非线性抗剪强度参数对裂缝边坡稳定性影响的上限解析

基于非线性Mohr-Coulomb破坏准则,结合极限分析上限法和拟静力分析法,建立功能方程,推导了地震效应下裂缝边坡的安全系数计算方程。采用数学规划方法,计算了不同参数组合条件下的边坡安全系数值,详细分析了非线性条件下一系列参数对边坡稳定性的影响。研究表明,边坡安全系数随非线性参数和地震效应的增大而减小。对比分析可知,在非线性破坏准则下,裂缝深度较大时,裂缝对边坡稳定性影响显著,且边坡越陡影响越大;当裂缝深度超过某个值后,临界破坏面起始端可能不穿过裂缝最底端,而是从裂缝中间某部位穿过。在地震效应作用下,非线性抗剪强度参数对安全系数影响显著。研究成果进一步完善了裂缝边坡稳定性分析内容,所列图表为边坡的设计与施工提供有益参考。     

Seismic Bearing Capacity of Strip Footings Located Close to the Crest of Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil Structures

This paper investigates the performance of geo-reinforced soil structures subjected to loading applied to strip footings positioned close to a slope crest. The kinematic theorem of limit analysis, which is based on the upper bound theory of plasticity, is applied for evaluating the ultimate bearing capacity within the framework of pseudo-static approach to account for earthquake effects. The mechanism considered in this analysis is a logarithmic spiral failure surface, which is assumed to start at the edge of the loaded area far from the slope, consistent with the observed failure mechanisms shown in the experimental tests reported in the literature. A parametric study is then carried out to investigate the influence of various parameters including the geosynthetic configuration, backfill soil friction angle, footing distances from the crest of the slope, slope angles and horizontal seismic coefficients. Attention is paid to the failure mechanism because its maximum depth is the depth at least to which the reinforcements must be placed. Results of the analyses are presented in the form of non-dimensional design charts for practical use. Finally, a simple procedure based on the assessment of earthquake-induced permanent displacements is shown for the design of footing resting on reinforced slopes subjected to earthquake.     

Development of limiting soil slope profile under seismic condition using slip line theory

This study embraces the formation of the limiting geometry of finite slopes under the static and seismic conditions within the slip line theory framework coupled with the modified pseudo-dynamic approach. The proposed methodology is expected to achieve a global factor of safety of 1.0 for the obtained slope profile. While analysing the stability of slopes using the limit analysis or the limit equilibrium method, the cognition of the slope geometry and the nature of the slip surface need to be known in advance. Such limitations are ruled out in the present analysis with the aid of the slip line method. Further, by employing the modified pseudo-dynamic approach, the dynamic properties of soil, such as damping ratio and frequency effect, are effectively considered in this stability analysis. The consideration of the slip line theory permits to achieve an adaptive failure mechanism in the analysis. The impact of a set of parameters characterizing the input motion and the dynamic soil properties on the behaviour of a slope explains the relevance of the present modified pseudo-dynamic approach compared to the conventional pseudo-static and the original pseudo-dynamic approaches. The proposed solution serves as a measure of the seismic slope stability in accordance with the geomorphological process generally encountered in nature. Compared with the available literature, the present results propose safe, economical, and efficient design guidelines for finite slopes and intimate the need for preventive measures to enhance the stability of existing slopes.

     

混凝土面板堆石坝的一种坝坡修整算法

基于混凝土面板堆石坝面板施工的实际情况,指出了通常混凝土面板堆石数值计算在模拟面板施工算法上的缺陷。提出了面板堆石坝竣工期上游坝坡修整力学问题,建立了一种适合平面问题和三维问题的统一坝坡修整算法,对任何采用接触模型模拟垫层料和混凝土面板受力特性的有限元计算模型,都具有普遍意义,并在有限元软件ABAQUS中实现了该算法。算例分析表明：该算法简洁和有效,能够保持良好的网格形态,使接触非线性计算收敛速度极大改善,并使蓄水状态下混凝土面板和坝体计算结果更趋于真实。同时,对考虑堆石料流变特性,研究施工阶段或蓄水后混凝土面板与垫层之间是否会发生“脱空”现象提供必要基础。     

Seismic Passive Earth Thrust on Retaining Walls with Cohesive Backfills Using Pseudo-Dynamic Approach

In this paper, the pseudo-dynamic approach is used to estimate seismic passive earth thrust on retaining walls with cohesive-frictional backfills. The time-dependent pseudo-dynamic approach considers the influence of dynamic parameters such as the velocity of primary and shear waves, the period of lateral shaking, and the phase and amplitude variations of horizontal and vertical earthquake accelerations with depth. The failure plane behind the wall is assumed to be planar. The analysis is based on the equilibrium of forces which act within the failure wedge. The obtained results show that the backfill cohesion increases both the seismic passive earth thrust and the failure plane inclination angle with the horizontal plane. It is also observed that both horizontal and vertical seismic accelerations have decreasing effect on seismic passive earth thrust as well as failure plane inclination angle. The results of present pseudo-dynamic analysis propose a lower solution for seismic passive earth thrust compared to earlier pseudo-static solution available in the literature.