A novel algorithm for slope stability analysis

Abstract

A concise algorithm is introduced to perform slope stability analysis to determine the geometry of the critical slip circle and the corresponding factor of safety without the need for iterative calculations. An optimisation process is performed using the developed algorithm for various soil properties and slope geometries to determine the critical slip circle within all possible slip circles and obtain the factor of safety. The performance of the algorithm is compared with three-dimensional finite-element analysis using the strength reduction method and benchmark studies conducted previously. It is found that the developed algorithm shows good agreement with the previous studies and three-dimensional finite-element analysis. The factors of safety are calculated for a wide range of parameters and variations in these factors are expressed using linear and quadratic equations to establish a correlation between factor of safety and five parameters: cohesion, friction angle and unit weight of soil, as well as slope height and slope angle. The correlation coefficients introduced in this study provide a convenient way for practising engineers to estimate factors of safety that are applicable to uniform slopes.