| Abstract: | Progressive failure in long natural clay slopes with an underlying weak shear zone is studied. The clay slope is assumed to be elastic–perfectly plastic, whereas the shear zone may have an elastic–plastic strain softening behaviour. The failure will occur due to the development of large shear deformations in the weak zone. The general behaviour, including the possibility of progressive failure, can be studied by the use of a one-dimensional finite element model. Other interesting matters which can be studied are critical load, critical disturbance and critical length of the slope. Numerical examples show the overall behaviour due to different residual shear strengths of the weak layer, end disturbance or change of pore pressure in the weak layer. Although simple, the proposed finite element model provides a practically applicable tool for the prediction of whether progressive failure will occur and in which manner the local failure will propagate. |
