Investigating the Influence of a Pre-Existing Shear Band on the Seismic Response of Ideal Step-like Slopes Subjected to Weak Motions: Preliminary Results

Abstract

The assessment of slope susceptibility to seismically-induced displacements receives wide attention in the geotechnical earthquake engineering field, but the alteration of the seismic wave inside the slope and at the ground surface due to the presence of a shear band confining a quiescent landslide body is rarely investigated. This paper describes the preliminary results of the numerical analysis of two step-like FE models, reproducing a gentle slope and steep cutting subjected to weak earthquakes, thus focusing on seismic wave amplification processes only. The results show that the higher the thickness of the weakened zone, the higher the maximum value of the amplification factors predicted at the ground surface. For gentle slopes affected by a landslide body confined by a thick shear band, the highest amplification factors are expected in the longer period range of 0.7–1.1 s, while the highest level of amplification is achieved in the intermediate period interval of 0.4–0.8 s in the case of steep slopes. In addition, the parasitic vertical component of acceleration can be considerably amplified beyond the crest and at the toe of the slope for increasing band thickness, especially in the case of steep topography, for which the effects of the shear band morphology enhance those related to the topographic profile. Finally, the fundamental frequency of the sloping deposit is not particularly affected by the presence of the shear band, while the amplitude of the amplification function at the fundamental frequency is clearly related to its thickness.