Force equilibrium-based finite displacement analyses for reinforced slopes: Formulation and verification

Abstract

Formulation and verification for a force equilibrium-based finite displacement method (FFDM) using test results of reinforced model slopes subjected to increasing pseudo-static seismic forces are reported. The FFDM requires, in addition to force equilibrium for a sliced potential failure mass, a hyperbolic shear stress–displacement constitutive law for the backfill soils, a hyperbolic pull-out force–displacement constitutive law for the reinforcement, and a displacement compatibility requirement for adjacent soil slices. As a result, the mobilized reinforcement force is an analytical output, rather than an empiricism-based input as required in conventional limit equilibrium analyses. Analytical results from the FFDM also indicated that a brittle failure is associated with the lightly reinforced failure surface; a ductile failure is associated with the heavily reinforced failure surface, regardless of the extensibility of reinforcement investigated in the present study. Good agreements between the measured and the computed slope displacements and reinforcement forces in response to increases in pseudo-static seismic forces suggest that the FFDM can be used as an analytical tool for evaluating displacements of reinforced slopes subjected to pseudo-static seismic loads.