Upper Bound Analysis of 3D-Reinforced Slope Stability Subjected to Pore-Water Pressure
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 20, Issue 4
Abstract
Pore-water pressure is a universal unfavorable external force and often poses an adverse impact on reinforced slope stability. Although recently the stability assessment of reinforced slopes has been extended to the three-dimensional (3D) conditions, the quantization effect of the pore-water pressure on 3D reinforced slope stability has not been investigated. In this paper, a stability analysis of the 3D reinforced slope subjected to pore-water pressure is performed on the basis of the upper-bound theorem of limit analysis. Uniform and triangular reinforcement patterns are both considered. The presented study offers explicit expressions to calculate the required critical reinforcement strength for a certain reinforced slope under different reinforcement patterns. Comparisons are conducted to verify the correctness of the expressions. The effects of the ratio of slope width to height, the pore-water pressure coefficient, and the soil friction angle are investigated. Last, two tables are listed to provide guidance for practical use.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request.
Acknowledgments
This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 51408180) and Science and Technology Innovation Plan of Hunan Province (Grant No. 2018JJ2431). The financial support is greatly appreciated.
References
Abd, A. H., and S. Utili. 2017. “Design of geosynthetic-reinforced slopes in cohesive backfills.” Geotext. Geomembr. 45 (6): 627–641. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geotexmem.2017.08.004.
Askari, F. E., and O. Farzaneh. 2008. “Pore water pressures in three dimensional slope stability analysis.” Int. J. Civ. Eng. 6 (1): 10–23.
Ausilio, E., E. Conte, and G. Dente. 2000. “Seismic stability analysis of reinforced slopes.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng. 19 (3): 159–172. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0267-7261(00)00005-1.
Biship, A. W., and N. Morgenstern. 1960. “Stability coefficients for earth slopes.” Géotechnique 10 (4): 129–153. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.1960.10.4.129.
Buhan, D. E., and P. Salecon. 1993. “A comprehensive stability analysis of soil nailed structures.” Eur. J. Mechanics. A: Solids 12 (3): 325–345.
Drucker, D. C., and W. Prager. 1952. “Soil mechanics and plastic analysis or limit design.” Q. J. Mech. Appl. Math. 10 (2): 157–165. https://doi.org/10.1090/qam/48291.
Gao, Y. F., S. C. Yang, F. Zhang, and B. Leshchinsky. 2016. “Three-dimensional reinforced slopes: Evaluation of required reinforcement strength and embedment length using limit analysis.” Geotext. Geomembr. 44 (2): 133–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geotexmem.2015.07.007.
Gao, Y. F., F. Zhang, G. H. Lei, and D. Y. Li. 2013. “An extended limit analysis of three-dimensional slope stability.” Géotechnique 63 (6): 518. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.12.T.004.
Huang, F., M. Zhang, F. Wang, T. Ling, and X. Yang. 2020. “The failure mechanism of surrounding rock around an existing shield tunnel induced by an adjacent excavation.” Comput. Geotech. 117 (Jan): 103236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2019.103236.
Kim, Y., S. Lee, S. Jeong, and J. Kim. 2013. “The effect of pressure-grouted soil nails on the stability of weathered soil slopes.” Comput. Geotech. 49 (Apr): 253–263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2012.12.003.
Li, T. Z., and X. L. Yang. 2020. “Stability of plane strain tunnel headings in soils with tensile strength cut-off.” Tunnelling Underground Space Technol. 95 (Jan): 103138. https://doi.org/0.1016/j.tust.2019.103138.
Li, Y. X., and X. L. Yang. 2019. “Seismic displacement of 3D slope reinforced by piles with nonlinear failure criterion.” Int. J. Geomech. 19 (6): 04019042. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0001411.
Ling, H. I., and D. Leshchinsky. 1998. “Effects of vertical acceleration on seismic design of geosynthetic-reinforced soil structures.” Geotechnique 48 (3): 347–373. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.1998.48.3.347.
Ling, H. I., D. Leshchinsky, and E. B. Perry. 1997. “Seismic design and performance of geosynthetic-reinforced soil structures.” Geotechnique 47 (5): 933–952. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.1997.47.5.933.
Michalowski, R. L. 1995. “Slope stability analysis: A kinematical approach.” Geotechnique 45 (2): 283–293. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.1995.45.2.283.
Michalowski, R. L. 1997. “Stability of uniformly reinforced slopes.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 123 (6): 546–556. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(1997)123:6(546).
Michalowski, R. L. 1998a. “Limit analysis in stability calculations of reinforced soil structures.” Geotext. Geomembr. 16 (6): 311–331. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0266-1144(98)00015-6.
Michalowski, R. L. 1998b. “Soil reinforcement for seismic design of geotechnical structures.” Comput. Geotech. 23 (1): 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0266-352X(98)00016-0.
Michalowski, R. L., and D. Drescher. 2009. “Three-dimensional stability of slopes and excavations.” Géotechnique 59 (10): 839–850. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.8.P.136.
Michalowski, R. L., and S. S. Nadukuru. 2013. “Three-dimensional limit analysis of slopes with pore pressure.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 139 (9): 1604–1610. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000867.
Nouri, H., A. Fakher, and CJFP. Jones. 2006. “Development of horizontal slice method for seismic stability analysis of reinforced slopes and walls.” Geotext. Geomembr. 24 (3): 175–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geotexmem.2005.11.004.
Pan, Q. J., Y. J. Jiang, and D. Dias. 2017a. “Probabilistic stability analysis of a three-dimensional rock slope characterized by the Hoek-Brown failure criterion.” J. Comput. Civ. Eng. 31 (5): 04017046. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CP.1943-5487.0000692.
Pan, Q. J., J. S. Xu, and D. Dias. 2017b. “Three-dimensional stability of a slope subjected to seepage forces.” Int. J. Geomech. 17 (8): 04017035. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0000913.
Qin, C. B., and S. C. Chian. 2019. “Pseudo-static/dynamic solutions of required reinforcement force for steep slopes using discretization-based kinematic analysis.” J. Rock Mech. Geotech. Eng. 11 (2): 289–299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrmge.2018.10.002.
Vahedifard, F., D. Leshchinsky, and C. L. Meehan. 2012. “Relationship between the seismic coefficient and the unfactored geosynthetic force in reinforced earth structures.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 138 (10): 1209–1221. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000701.
Yang, X. L., and J. H. Chen. 2019. “Factor of safety of geosynthetic-reinforced slope in unsaturated soils.” Int. J. Geomech. 19 (6): 04019041. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0001399.
Yang, X. L., and F. Huang. 2011. “Collapse mechanism of shallow tunnel based on nonlinear Hoek-Brown failure criterion.” Tunnelling Underground Space Technol. 26 (6): 686–691. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tust.2011.05.008.
Yu, H. S., R. Salgado, S. W. Sloan, and J. M. Kim. 1998. “Limit analysis versus limit equilibrium for slope stability.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 124 (1): 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(1998)124:1(1).
Zheng, Y. W., P. J. Fox, and J. S. McCartney. 2018. “Numerical simulation of deformation and failure behavior of geosynthetic reinforced soil bridge abutments.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 144 (7): 04018037. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001893.
Zhong, J. H., and X. L. Yang. 2020. “Kinematic stability of tunnel face in non-uniform soils.” KSCE J. Civ. Eng. 24 (2): 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-020-0996-z.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 20 • Issue 4 • April 2020
Copyright
©2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 17, 2019
Accepted: Sep 20, 2019
Published online: Jan 27, 2020
Published in print: Apr 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Jun 27, 2020
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.