Cohesive slope failure analysis using methods combining smoothed particle hydrodynamics and response surface function

Abstract

Purpose The paper aims to construct a method to simulate the relationship between the parameters of soil properties and the area of sliding mass of the true slip surface of a landslide. Design/methodology/approach The smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) algorithm is used to calibrate a response surface function which is adopted to quantify the area of sliding mass of the true slip surface for each failure sample in Monte Carlo simulation. The proposed method is illustrated through a homogeneous and a heterogeneous cohesive soil slope. Findings The comparison of the results between the proposed method and the traditional method using the slip surface with minimum factor of safety (FSmin) to quantify the failure consequence has shown that the landslide risk tends to be attributed to a variety of risk sources, and that the use of a slip surface with FSmin to quantify the consequence of a landslide underestimates the landslide risk value. The difference of the risk value between the proposed method and the traditional method increases dramatically as the uncertainty of soil properties becomes significant. Practical implications A geotechnical engineer could use the proposed method to perform slope failure analysis. Originality/value The failure consequence of a landslide can be rationally predicted using the proposed method.

Reliability analysis using Limit equilibrium and Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics-based method for homogeneous soil slopes

“…It must be pointed out that there is no rigorous sliding surface in SPH. Based on the previous research output of our group [ 26 – 28 , 30 ], the initial failure surface in LEM for a slope at the critical state compares well with the sliding zones denoted by displacement contour in SPH results. The determination of threshold displacement value aims to facilitate the calculation of sliding volume in SPH.…”

“…Liu et al [19] utilized the MPM to investigate the nonstationarity of random field of soil strength on the postfailure mechanism of slope failures. SPH is originated in astrophysics [20,21], hydrodynamics and aeronautics [22] and it has been extended to geotechnical engineering [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] since an elastic-perfectly plastic soil constitutive model wherein the Drucker-Prager model with associated and non-associated plastic flow rules has been implemented into the SPH formulation [31]. Recently, Herschel-Bulkley-Papanastasiou (HBP) rheological model has been incorporated into SPH and the dynamic catastrophic process of slope sliding after instability is fully revealed [32].…”

On the Location of Multiple Failure Slip Surfaces in Slope Stability Problems Using the Meshless SPH Algorithm

“…SPH has also been widely used in many research fields such as fluid mechanics [28][29][30] and geotechnical engineering [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42] since the constitutive model was first implemented in SPH by Bui et al [43].…”