Assessment of Slope Stability in the Monitoring Parameter Space
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 142, Issue 7
Abstract
Slope monitoring is routinely conducted, and observational information such as surface/underground displacements, groundwater levels, and rock bolt forces at multiple locations is collected. How to make use of the monitoring information to reveal failure mechanisms and assess the slope stability is a key issue in slope engineering. This paper presents a method for assessing the slope stability by integrating monitoring parameters with physical analysis. The observed information first was used to back analyze the strength and loading parameters, and then the updated basic parameters were used to calculate the factor of safety or failure probability of the slope. The dominant basic parameters whose uncertainties influence the observed results the most were identified from the probabilistic back analysis. Alert levels were defined in the monitoring parameter space on the basis of a factor of safety or failure probability criterion. A rock slope example was worked out to illustrate the application of the proposed method.
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Acknowledgments
The research reported in this paper was substantially supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Project No. 2011CB013506), the Research Grants Council (RGC) of the Hong Kong SAR (Grant Nos. HKUST6/CRF/12R and 16212514), the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (Project No. 51225903), and the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province of China (Project No. 2014CFA001).
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© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: May 17, 2015
Accepted: Dec 31, 2015
Published online: Mar 29, 2016
Published in print: Jul 1, 2016
Discussion open until: Aug 29, 2016
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