Performance-Based Seismic Assessment of Slope Systems

Abstract

AbstractSeismic slope displacement procedures are useful in the evaluation of earth embankments and natural slopes. The calculated seismic slope displacement provides an index of performance. Newmark-based sliding block models are typically employed. The manner in which the key components of the analysis are addressed largely determines the reliability of a particular procedure. The primary source of uncertainty in assessing the seismic performance of an earth slope is the input ground motion. Hence, sliding block procedures have advanced over the last two decades through the use of larger sets of ground motion records. Recent updates of the procedures developed by the authors are highlighted. The nonlinear fully coupled stick-slip sliding block model calculates reasonable seismic slope displacements. Displacements depend primarily on the earth structure’s yield coefficient and the earthquake ground motion’s spectral acceleration at the effective fundamental period of the sliding mass. Through their use, the sensitivity of the seismic slope displacements and their uncertainty to key input parameters can be investigated. These procedures can be implemented within a performance-based design framework to estimate the seismic slope displacement hazard, which is a more rational approach.KeywordsDamDisplacementEarthquakeHazardPerformanceSlope