Stability Analysis and Overall Safety Factor of Landslide Slopes Using Rigid Body Spring Method Considering Pore Water Pressure

Abstract

Generally, landslide slope stability is analyzed using the Fellenius method based on the limited equilibrium method. For the purpose of deriving a more strict solution, the Bishop, Janbu, Spencer and the Morgenstern-Price methods are available. On the other hand, as computer technology has been developed, slope stability has been often analyzed using Finite Element Method (FEM). This method is characterized by the grasp of slope deformation, internal stress, local failure and so on.
By the way, Rigid Body Spring Method (RBSM) also has the same characters as FEM. This method easily deals with the failure of solids due to slippage and tensile cracking. Hence this method is suitable for the analysis of landslide stability.
Now, as is generally known, pore water pressure of the ground is an indispensable factor in analyzing slope stability. Overall safety factor is important to design a countermeasure and to estimate the stability of landslide slopes.
Accordingly to this paper, the method of analysis concerning pore water pressure and the method of deriving the overall safety factor using RBSM are proposed. Finally with a view of examining the propriety of the analysis method concerning pore water pressure using RBSM, and comparing the overall safety factor using limited equilibrium method, the proposal method is described with numerical examples of landslide slopes.