Slope Stability Analysis in Civil Engineering - A Review

摘要

Stability analysis of slope is one of the most sought after problem in civil engineering, stability of natural slopes in hilly terrain, river beds etc. and man made slopes like dams, embankments of highways and railways is analyzed to avoid disasters. The present paper discusses about factors affecting stability of slope and the alternate methods of analysis. In the present paper, the gravitional force, seepage, sudden drawdown cases and seismic forces are considered for the analysis. Out of the number alternative approachessuch as the limit equillibrium method (LEM), limit analysis, finite element method, finite difference method,boundary element method;the LEM is the most widely used as it is easy to implement and is based on equations of static equillibrium. In case of LEM, the factor of safety (FOS) of the slope is determined, however, stress-strain information can not be determined using LEM. Recently, artificial intelligence (Ml) methods like artificial neural network, support vector machine, genetic programming, functional network etc. are being used for estimation of factor of safety of the slope. Then finite element method (FEM) based software such as PLMXIS is used for the analysis to find out the factor of safety and corresponding stress-strain conditions. Four example slopes as depcited in IRC-75(1979) has been analyzed using PLAXIS and the results have been critically evaluated in terms of obtained factor of safety and displacement of slopes. The present study will encourage the field engineers to use FEM based slope stability analysis for high embankments.