Estimation of Newmark displacement of homogeneous soil slopes from static factor of safety and ground motion parameters

Abstract

We assess the seismic response of homogeneous slopes composed of sand using the outputs of two-dimensional (2D) dynamic nonlinear finite element analyses. The slope models are configured to have a range of static factor of safety (FS_static) by adjusting the slope geometry and soil shear strength. The Newmark displacements are numerically calculated from equivalent horizontal acceleration time histories, which are determined by integrating shear and normal stresses across the predefined failure surface. The Newmark displacements are correlated with a number of ground parameters, which include peak ground acceleration (PGA), peak ground velocity (PGV), arias intensity (Ia), and cumulative absolute velocity (CAV). It is demonstrated that PGV produces the strongest correlation with the Newmark displacement, whereas PGA yields a weak linkage with the numerically calculated displacement. Empirical functions that relate FS_static and ground motion parameters with the Newmark displacements are proposed.