Stability analysis of soil slopes based on strain information

• DOI: 10.1007/s11440-020-00985-x
• Publication Date: 2020-05-22T16:04:41Z
• Authors: Zhenyu Wang; Wengang Zhang; Xuecheng Gao; Hanlong Liu; Thomas Böhlke
• Keywords: Safety factor; Factor of safety; Slope failure

The failure of engineering slopes may cause great property loss and casualties, against which the slope deformation monitoring and instrumentation are needed. To investigate the relationship between safety factors and the displacements/strains of slopes, ten synthetic numerical models with different slope heights, slope angles, ranges of loading and soil parameters were designed and tested via finite difference code FLAC. By applying incremental load on the top of slope, the distribution of strain field and safety factor of slope were analyzed. The results indicated that there are three different modes of strain development inside the slope under uniform strip loading. During failure progress, the factors of safety and the corresponding total strain amounts at different loading stages have been analyzed. Based on the results, a modified empirical formula relating safety factor to the average maximum horizontal strain was proposed, which can be used as a theoretical guidance for preliminary slope stability check based on the instrumented strains.