Seismic Slope Stability Analysis Considering Ground Water Level

Abstract

Heavy seismic damage tends to occur in embankment slopes in which ground water table is high. The conventional limit equilibrium analysis usually evaluates the effect of ground water by the decrease of shear strength of subsoil due to the hydrostatic pressure. This paper tries to extend the method to finite element analysis, and to estimate seismic slope stability considering ground water level. This paper proposes a numerical procedure in which a seismic slope failure takes place when a cumulative plastic deformation calculated by a dynamic stress-deformation analysis exceeds a critical value of deformation determined by a static stability analysis considering seismic intensity. The proposed procedure is applied to some hypothetical and actual case studies of seismic slope stability under high ground water level. The case studies show the possibility that the procedure gives the realistic evaluation of ground water.