Using Finite Element Theory In Soil Slope Stability Factors Of Exploration And Analysis

The study of slope stability has been one of the focuses and difficulties inacademia and engineering over the years. For slope stability analysis, the traditionalmethod of limit equilibrium analysis has been widely used because its concept is clearand it is easy to understand. But the limit equilibrium analysis has limitations,because it can not reflect the variation of stress and strain in soil slope and the finalslip surface and safety factor don’t agree with the actual condition. On the basis oftraditional limit equilibrium analysis, the finite element method was used to analyzesoil slope in this paper. This method dose not need relate assumptions and its resultsare relatively reasonable.Finite element method used, stability of homogeneous slope andnon-homogeneous slope was studied in this thesis. Results are as follows:1. Quad-element of four nodes was used to model and analyze soil slope and thePoint of largest strain in every level was found. Then these points were linked andcubic was used to fit them. The shape and location of real slip surface can be foundaccurately under the condition of overall slope unstability.2. Finite element method used, the effects of both external load on slope top andPore water pressure on slope safety factor were analyzed. The results were comparedwith traditional method of limit equilibrium analysis. The results indicated that thebigger external load was, the smaller safety factor value was, and the higher waterhead was, the smaller safety factor was. Besides, the relationships between externalload and safety factor, pore water pressure and safety factor, were nonlinear. Thesafety factor value of finite element method was generally greater than that of limitequilibrium analysis, which showed that the result of limit equilibrium analysis wasconservative. It is significant in optimal design of slope engineering.3. The non-homogeneous slope under reinforcement modeled, the effects of reinforced materials and their distribution on overall slope stability were studied. Theresults indicated that overall slope stability improved greatly after reinforcement,which was proved by finite element method and limit equilibrium analysis method. Inaddition, the larger the elastic modulus of reinforced material was, the larger thesafety factor was. The reinforcement distribution of upper rare and lower dense was most efficient, and the result of upper dense and lower rare was the contrary.