General limit equilibrium method for lateral earth force

1984 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 166-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harianto Rahardjo ◽  
Delwyn G. Fredlund

The calculation of the lateral earth force using the limit equilibrium method of slices is an indeterminate problem. An assumption regarding the direction or the magnitude of certain forces, or the position of the line of thrust can be used to render the problem determinate.A general formulation for the lateral earth force is derived in accordance with the assumptions involved in the general limit equilibrium (GLE) method. An assumption concerning a direction of the interslice forces is utilized to solve the problem of indeterminancy. Horizontal force equilibrium conditions within a sliding mass are used to compute the magnitude of the active and passive forces. The point of application of the lateral earth force is obtained by considering moment equilibrium for each slice.The coefficient of lateral earth force obtained from the GLE method agrees closely with the results obtained from most other theories. Comparisons are made to the Coulomb theory (i.e., using a planar slip surface) and other theories using a curved or a composite slip surface.Data are presented for the case of a horizontal cohesionless backfill against a vertical wall. The lateral earth force can be contoured on the grid of centers of rotation. These contours have a bell-shaped characteristic and can be used to locate the critical center of rotation.The main advantage of this method lies in its capability to analyze arbitrarily stratified soil deposits with complex geometries. Different conditions of pore-water pressure, shear strength, and external loading can be accommodated in the analysis. Factors of safety greater than 1.0 can be applied to the shear strength of the soil for design purposes. Keywords: lateral earth force, active force, passive force, general limit equilibrium, interslice forces, and coefficient of lateral earth force.

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Wahyu Wilopo ◽  
Adam Raka Ekasara ◽  
Hendy Setiawan ◽  
Dwikorita Karnawati

On 22 February 2018 landslide occurred in Pasir Panjang Village, Salem District, Brebes Regency of Central Java Province, Indonesia. About 8 people were died, 4 people were injured and several infrastructures were damaged due to this landslide. This research is carried out to understand geological-geotechnical condition and to study the initiation mechanism of the landslide. Field investigation and UAV mapping are carried out to detect slip surface and define slope geometry. The rainfall-induced pore-water pressure is estimated by using the Slope Infiltration Distributed Equilibrium (SLIDE) model. Then, limit equilibrium method is used to estimate the safety factor of the slope, while the shear strength parameters are determined by applying back analysis approach that compared with data from laboratory tests. The results show that landslide occurred in permeable layer of silty sand overlaid above impermeable andesitic breccia. Results from back analysis indicate that the shear strength parameters and rainfall intensity are strongly influence the stability of slope against landslide.


2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-82
Author(s):  
Adin Richard ◽  
Won Taek Oh ◽  
Gregory Brennan

Workers are often required to enter unsupported trenches during the construction process, which may present serious risks. Trench failures can result in death or damage to adjacent properties; therefore, trenches should be excavated with extreme precaution. Critical height (i.e., maximum depth that can be excavated without failure) is the most important design consideration for ensuring the stability of unsupported trenches. Because excavation work is often done in the vadose zone, the influence of matric suction should be taken into account when estimating the critical height of an unsupported trench. In this study, an attempt was made to estimate the critical heights of unsupported trenches using three distinct approaches: (i) analytical method based on the extended Rankine earth pressure theory, (ii) finite element coupled stress – pore-water pressure analysis, and (iii) limit equilibrium method (i.e., Bishop’s simplified and Morgenstern–Price method). It was assumed that the trenches were excavated in an engineered sand (Unimin 7030) and Indian Head till, which represent cohesionless and cohesive soils, respectively, considering various practical scenarios. Geotechnical modeling software, GeoStudio (ver. 2016; SIGMA/W and SLOPE/W), was used for both finite element analysis and the limit equilibrium method.


2013 ◽  
Vol 275-277 ◽  
pp. 1423-1426
Author(s):  
Lin Kuang ◽  
Ai Zhong Lv ◽  
Yu Zhou

Based on finite element analysis software ANSYS, slope stability analysis is carried out by Elastic limiting equilibrium method proposed in this paper. A series of sliding surface of the slope can be assumed firstly, and then stress field along the sliding surface is analyzed as the slope is in elastic state. The normal and tangential stresses along each sliding surface can be obtained, respectively. Then the safety factor for each slip surface can be calculated, the slip surface which the safety factor is smallest is the most dangerous sliding surface. This method is different from the previous limit equilibrium method. For the previous limit equilibrium method, the normal and tangential stresses along the sliding surface are calculated based on many assumptions. While, the limit equilibrium method proposed in this paper has fewer assumptions and clear physical meaning.


1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 464-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.D. Eigenbrod

Slow, shallow ground movements in a slope near Yellowknife caused excessive tilting of timber piles that supported an engineering structure. To avoid damage to the structure, the pile foundations had to be replaced by rigid concrete piers that were designed to resist the forces of the moving soil mass. Downhill movements were rather slow and, during an initial inspection, were indicated only by soil that was pushed up against a series of piles on their uphill sides, while gaps had formed on their downhill sides. No open cracks or bulging was observed on the slope. A stability analysis indicated that the slope was not in a state of limit equilibrium. To obtain a better understanding of the creep movements in the slope and their effect on the rigid concrete piers, extensive instrumentation was carried out after the construction of the piers. This included slope indicators, piezometers, thermistors, and total-pressure cells against one of the concrete piers. In addition, a triaxial testing program was undertaken in which the effect of cyclic pore-water pressure changes on the long-term deformations of the shallow clay layer was investigated. From the data collected in the field and laboratory, it could be concluded that (i) tilting of the original timber piles was caused by downslope movements related to cyclic pore-water increases; (ii) the lateral soil movements increased almost linearly with depth from 2 m below the ground surface, with no indication of a slip surface; and (iii) the pressures exerted by the moving soil mass against the rigid concrete piers within the soil mass were equal to the passive resistance activated within the moving soil mass. Key words : soil creep, slope movements, soil pressures, pore-water pressures, freezing pressures, permafrost, cyclic loading.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Rui Zhang ◽  
Jie Zhao ◽  
Guixuan Wang

Under the condition of the plane strain, finite element limit equilibrium method is used to study some key problems of stability analysis for anchored slope. The definition of safe factor in slices method is generalized into FEM. The “true” stress field in the whole structure can be obtained by elastic-plastic finite element analysis. Then, the optimal search for the most dangerous sliding surface with Hooke-Jeeves optimized searching method is introduced. Three cases of stability analysis of natural slope, anchored slope with seepage, and excavation anchored slope are conducted. The differences in safety factor quantity, shape and location of slip surface, anchoring effect among slices method, finite element strength reduction method (SRM), and finite element limit equilibrium method are comparatively analyzed. The results show that the safety factor given by the FEM is greater and the unfavorable slip surface is deeper than that by the slice method. The finite element limit equilibrium method has high calculation accuracy, and to some extent the slice method underestimates the effect of anchor, and the effect of anchor is overrated in the SRM.


2011 ◽  
Vol 462-463 ◽  
pp. 42-47
Author(s):  
Xiao Li Liu ◽  
Jun Jie Yang

For numerical simulation, the shear strength reduction technique (SSRT) is often used to evaluate slope or landslide stability. According to numerical computation results of slopes or landslides analyzed by SSRT, it can be found that with increase of the shear strength reduction factor, some of the soil elements will yield gradually to form a connected plastic zone, which is the potential slip surface of the slope or landslide. In view of the plastic resistance of soils, formation of the connected plastic zone does not always indicate that the landslide is about to failure. Other auxiliary criterion is necessary to predict whether a slope or landslide is in a critical state or not. Here, difference of the incremental percent of horizontal displacement of the outcropping slip surface node is regarded as the auxiliary indicator to distinguish the critical state of slopes or landslides after formation of the potential slip surface. With the ideas mentioned above, stability of a fossil landslide, Xietan landslide has been analyzed for the natural and the long-term reservoir water level conditions. Factors of safety of Xietan landslide by the numerical method have been compared with that by the limit equilibrium method, which indicates that the method used here for evaluating stability of Xietan landslide is feasible. Because numerical method has more advantages over the limit equilibrium method, the approach for evaluating stability of landslide here can be applied to more complicated or three-dimensional landslides or slopes further.


2012 ◽  
Vol 166-169 ◽  
pp. 2535-2538
Author(s):  
Ke Wang ◽  
Chang Ming Wang ◽  
Fang Qi ◽  
Cen Cen Niu

The traditional limit equilibrium method in the analysis of slope stability not only exists some subjective empirical hypothesis that can not meet the equilibrium of force and moment, but also ignores the effects of internal stress and strain on the slope stability. Furthermore, in the stability of the slope evaluation, limit equilibrium method relies too much on experience when hypothesizing the slope slip surface. So that it makes deviation on slope analysis and stability evaluation. This paper is based on simplified Bishop method used to establish the model of slope stability analysis. And it used genetic algorithms to solve the minimum safety factor and the most dangerous slip surface of slope. It was the arithmetic which simulates organisms genetic evolutionary process and it avoided the traditional methods falling into the local extreme value point easily and error propagation leading to convergence. The algorithm had advantages of higher accuracy, quick convergence and applicability. It showed that the genetic algorithm is accurate and reliable in the analysis of slope stability.


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