Centrifuge model test on earthquake-induced failure behaviour of slope in discontinuous rock mass

摘要

We conducted a centrifuge model test on earthquake-induced rock slope failure. The test results were compared with Safety Factors (SFs) related to the sliding surface, obtained by the limit equilibrium method; the stresses on the sliding surface were estimated by equivalent linear analysis. A dip slope model for the centrifuge model test was constructed from cement, sand, iron powder, and water, and discontinuities were imitated by inserting Teflon sheets. In the test, the centrifugal acceleration was 30G, and the acceleration amplitudes of the input sine waves were increased gradually at every step. As a result, the slope model collapsed when it was excited by a sine wave of 3.5 m/s2, which was converted to a real field scale. The trends of the computed SFs showed that the threshold amplitude of the failure was lower than the actual amplitude that induced the failure, implying that the stability evaluation method based on the SFs was conservative.