Abstract:

Numerical methods (finite element method, finite difference method, etc.) can be used to calculate stress, strain and failure of slope; but it is difficult to calculate the safety factor of slope stability directly. Limit equilibrium methods can obtain the factor of safety, but they need to assume the interslice forces, which affects the calculation accuracy. Based on the stress field obtained by numerical methods, by defining the maximum thrust forces and improving numerical simulation method of conventional critical slip field of slope, the critical slip field method of slope based on numerical stress field is proposed. The results obtained by using this method for two examples have been compared with other methods. It is shown that the proposed method combines the advantages of numerical method and limit equilibrium method so as to find the critical slip surface of slope accurately and conveniently, and give more reasonable safety factor.

Key words: numerical method, slope stability, critical slip field, limit equilibrium method, safety factor