Response of High-Strength Rock Slope to Seismic Waves in a Shaking Table Test

Abstract

Studies on landslides by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake showed that the topography is of great importance in amplifying the seismic shaking. The present study carried out experiments on rock slopes by means of a shaking table. The recorded Wenchuan earthquake waves are scaled to excite the model slopes. Measurements from accelerometers installed on free surface of the model slope simulating high-strength rocks are analyzed, with much effort on acceleration responses to both horizontal and vertical components of seismic shaking. It is found that the amplification factor of peak horizontal acceleration (PHA) is increasing with elevation of the model slope, though the upper and lower halves of the slope exhibit different increasing patterns. The amplification factor of peak vertical acceleration (PVA) exhibits a lying S-shaped changing trend with the elevation, indicating attenuations of PVAs at the toe and top of a slope. In addition, the XZ-direction shaking produces a horizontal and vertical response stronger than X-direction and Z-direction shaking alone. Both PHA and PVA increase with the excitation intensity. However, the corresponding amplification factors generally decrease, indicating the acceleration response of a slope weakens with the excitation intensity of shaking. Finally the statistic of ratio of PVA to PHA indicates that 85% of the slope height, especially the upper middle part, is likely subject to PVAs greater than or equal to 2=3 of PHA and 32% of the slope height to PVAs greater than or equal to PHA. This indicates the nonignorable role of PVA in responses of a slope to an earthquake and necessity of considering during design work.

Dynamic Response and Dynamic Failure Mode of a Weak Intercalated Rock Slope Using a Shaking Table

“…The slope angle was set at 72°. The length of the model slope was 170 cm, which, according to existing research (Huang et al 2013b;Liu et al 2013Liu et al , 2014, was an acceptable value for physical model tests using a shaking table.…”

“…Although the absorber may be considered to influence displacements, especially in the counter-bedding slope model, the researches of Huang et al (2013b), and Liu et al (2013Liu et al ( , 2014 indicate that this approach allows for a ''reasonably correct'' physical model.…”

“…In 2008, the Wenchuan earthquake (moment magnitude of 7.9) induced extensive slope failures, including 56,000 rock falls and landslides, forming 256 barrier lakes (Huang and Li 2009a, b;Wasowski et al 2011). Much attention has been paid to the dynamic response characteristics of slopes under earthquake excitation (Wartman et al 2005;Lin and Wang 2006;Aydan et al 2010; Barbero and Barla 2010;Latha and Garaga 2010;Chen et al 2013;Liu et al 2013Liu et al , 2014. However, research on rock slopes with weak intercalated layers is rare (Xu and Yan 2014;Yang et al 2014), especially in terms of comparison between slopes parallel to geological bedding (referred to here as bedding slopes) and slopes that cross-cut geological bedding (counter-bedding slopes).…”

Earthquake‐Induced Chains of Geologic Hazards: Patterns, Mechanisms, and Impacts

“…Among others, Lin and Wang (2006), Liu et al (2013), and G. Fan, Zhang, et al (2016) performed shakingtable tests on rock slopes having different stiffnesses, strengths, and bedding orientations. They reported a positive correlation between the amplification of the seismic acceleration and the height of the model slopes, which can derive from the reduction of stiffness along height (Ambraseys, 2009;Dakoulas & Gazetas, 1986).…”

Upper Bound Limit Analysis for Seismic Stability of Rock Slope with Tunnel

“…e stability of rock and soil slope [1,2] under earthquake has become a hot research topic at present [3][4][5]. Based on the quasi-static method, the limit equilibrium analysis and upper bound approach of limit analysis have been widely utilized to evaluate the seismic stability of the slope.…”