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Slope reliability analysis using length-based representative slip surfaces

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Abstract

This paper develops an empirical approach to slope reliability considering 2D spatial variability of soil properties with length-based representative slip surfaces. The correlation coefficient between factors of safety for two slip surfaces is analogous to that between two slip surfaces which is quantified based on the lengths within different elements of the slip surface. A large number of potential slip surfaces are categorized into separate slip surface groups within each of which the correlation coefficient between any two slip surfaces is higher than the threshold value. A slip surface with the minimum factor of safety is considered to be the representative slip surface for each of slip surface groups. The factor of safety is minimized among all the representative slip surfaces, and the minimum one is regarded as the output for each set of random samples generated by Monte Carlo simulation (MCS). The methodology is validated through comparison with other methods. It is found that slope failure probability, p f, increases as the scale of fluctuation, λ y (in vertical direction), and λ x (in horizontal direction) increase. The effect of non-circular failure mechanism was studied at different λ x and λ y values. Significant larger failure probabilities are provided with non-circular failure mechanism than with circular failure mechanism. For 2D spatial variability case, two orders of magnitude larger failure probability is noticed.

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Acknowledgments

The present work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51274126, 51008167, and 51174124), China Scholarship Council (CSC), National Program on Key Basic Research Project (973 Program, Grant No. 2013CB036403), the open foundation of State Key Laboratory of Costal and Offshore Engineering, Dalian University of Technology (Grant No. LP12014), and the Domestic Visitor Foundation from the Ministry of Education of China. The financial supports are gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Qingdao Technological University, Qingdao, China

    Xuesong Chu & Liang Li

  2. State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China

    Yujie Wang

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  1. Xuesong Chu
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  2. Liang Li
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  3. Yujie Wang
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Correspondence to Liang Li.

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Chu, X., Li, L. & Wang, Y. Slope reliability analysis using length-based representative slip surfaces. Arab J Geosci 8, 9065–9078 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-015-1905-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-015-1905-5

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