Effect of Nonlinear Shear Strength Characteristic on the Slope Stability of Super High Rockfill Dam

摘要

Linear and nonlinear shear strength models of rockfill, and the safety factor criterion of nonlinear shear strength were discussed in this paper. The slope stability of 261.5 m high Nuozhadu rockfill dam was analyzed with three different shear strength models. The safety factors are almost equal and the positions of potential failure surface are similar. It is found that the allowable safety factor base on linear criterion in the existing code can be used without any change when applying nonlinear shear strength rules.