Swedish Circle Method for Pseudo-dynamic Analysis of Slope Considering Circular Failure Mechanism

Determination of the stability of soil slope under earthquake loading condition is one of the major parts of concern for Civil Engineer. The Swedish Circle method or the method of slices is used for determining the stability of the earth slope of c–ϕ soil. A limit equilibrium pseudo-dynamic approach is adopted in the present analysis, which considers the effect of the phase difference in both shear and primary waves traveling through the soil medium of the soil during earthquake excitation. The threshold acceleration and displacement of soil slopes are calculated using the pseudo-dynamic method. A two-dimensional numerical solution is performed using Finite Element software PLAXIS 8.2. In the finite element analysis, the slope materials are modeled using Mohr–Coulomb’s plastic elasto-plastic failure criterion. Effects of a wide range of variation of soil parameters i.e. horizontal and vertical seismic acceleration, stability factor, slope angle and angle of internal friction are studied through this analysis. The present analysis has been compared with the other available methods of seismic analyses. Also, the finite element results are compared with those obtained from the analytical investigations.