Slope Stability Analysis Under External Static Surcharge

Abstract

In the assessment of slopes, factor of safety values still remain the primary indices for determining how close or far slopes are from failure. Traditional limit-equilibrium techniques are the most commonly-used analysis methods. Recently, however, the significant computing and memory resources typically available to the geotechnical engineer, combined with low costs, have made the Finite Element Method (FEM) a powerful, viable alternative. This article used a finite element approach to analyze the response of homogeneous and layered slopes. A detailed parametric analysis was presented to study the effect of surcharge (it can be an imposition of building load… etc.) on the stability of the slope.