Abstract
Design standards and codes of practice on earth slope stability often recommend the pseudo-static method of analysis for determining the factor of safety of a slope subjected to seismic forces. In most pseudo-static methods of analysis, the horizontal seismic force is considered without due weightage to vertical seismic force. In the past, Taylor's stability chart for a homogeneous cohesive-frictional soil slope has been extended to consider the effect of horizontal seismic force only. In this paper, an attempt is made to develop an analytical formulation considering both horizontal and vertical seismic forces in order to estimate the factor of safety of the homogeneous, cohesive-frictional soil slopes with simple profiles using Taylor's stability chart. The analytical formulation is based on the friction circle method, which is one of the methods of static slope stability analysis. Several field cases have been analysed considering slope geometry, soil properties and seismic loading conditions so that Taylor's stability chart can be routinely used by practising engineers considering the effects of both horizontal and vertical seismic forces. An illustrative example is included in order to explain how practising engineers can use the graphical presentations developed in this paper as the design charts for stability analysis. This illustrative example has also been solved using Plaxis 2D, a commercially available finite-element software, as a comparison.
Highlights
The stability of soil slope is always a great topic of debate for geotechnical engineers
In this paper, an attempt is made to explain how Taylor’s chart for the homogeneous c–φ soil slope can be used during earthquakes considering the effect of both horizontal and vertical seismic loads
(c) The greater the value of horizontal seismic coefficient with vertical seismic coefficient, the lower is the friction reduction factor m for a given angle of internal friction, which in turn gives rise to a higher stability number from Taylor’s chart, resulting in a lower factor of safety
Summary
The stability of soil slope is always a great topic of debate for geotechnical engineers. Taylor’s stability chart (Taylor, 1937, 1948) is used as the main tool for the determination of the factor of safety F of finite homogeneous slopes consisting of c–φ soils under undrained conditions; c being the cohesion intercept and φ the angle of internal friction of soil under static conditions Under static loading condition, when the slope inclination and angle of internal friction of soil are known, a stability number can be computed from Taylor’s stability chart under static loading conditions. This design chart does not consider the estimation of factor of safety under the application of seismic force. It would be more advantageous to field engineers if Taylor’s chart could further be used
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