Analysis of Unsaturated Slope Stability under Seismic and Surcharge Loading by Upper Bound Rigid Block Method

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the stability of unsaturated slopes under seismic and surcharge loads using an upper bound limit analysis that incorporates soil suction effects, providing new insights into slope failure mechanisms under combined loading conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of the upper bound rigid block method with suction stress modeling for unsaturated slopes under seismic and surcharge loads.

Findings

Stability is significantly affected by surcharge and seismic forces.

Proposed stability charts illustrate the impact of different loads and climatic conditions.

Computed solutions align well with existing literature, validating the approach.

Abstract

Failure of earthen slopes is a very recurrent phenomenon, credited mainly due to the excess rainfall and application of surfeit surcharge. However, most of the analyses regarding slope stability were performed without considering the unsaturated state of the soil. The prime purpose of the present manuscript is to address the stability of unsaturated homogeneous slopes subjected to surcharge load and pseudo-static seismic forces under different climatic conditions. The upper bound limit analysis technique was used based on the log-spiral failure mechanism. The suction stress-based effective stress approach was used to capture the effect of the unsaturated zone of the slope. The suction stress is modelled using Gardner's one-parameter hydraulic conductivity function and van-Genuchten's soil water characteristics curve. An extensive parametric study is carried out to assess the combined effect of slope geometry, soil-strength parameters, hydro-mechanical parameters, depth of water table, various flow conditions, surcharge load, and seismic loading. A few stability charts are proposed to show the impact of surcharge load and seismic load separately on unsaturated homogeneous slopes subjected to various climatic conditions. The present computed solutions match quite well with the available solutions prescribed in the literature.