Effects of various surcharge loading conditions on the stability of soil slopes

Leeworthy, T; Ahangar Asr, A

Abstract

The stability of soil slopes is a theme which has great significance within the field of civil engineering, this paper will focus on the analysis of soil slopes under varying surcharge loads. There are two main methods used in the analysis of soil slopes the first is the most commonly used method, the limit equilibrium method (LEM) and the second is a finite element method (FEM) which is becoming more commonly used due to three-dimensional analysis aspect. It is suggested by [1] that the factor of safety is greater for three-dimensional analysis compared to that of two-dimensional analysis. As the accuracy of software packages continues to improve (FEM) will be more commonly used by civil engineers.
In this study both analysis methods are used to analyse the effects on various surcharge loading conditions on the stability of soil slopes. By using two different approaches to the analysis of different surcharge conditions, two sets of data are produced both of which can be compared to validate the work. As this topic is widely studied previous papers with a similar research question where used as reference to compare results [2, 3]. The purpose of this study is to highlight the importance of understanding the
effects of surcharge loading, it can be seen from previous studies that the focus is generally based on other factors such as the cohesion of the soil, the slope angle, the friction angle and the soil parameters. Whilst they are all individually important, the surcharge loading conditions are often neglected never investing the effects different loads would have on the stability of the soil slope. This shows a gap in the current field of study which this paper will investigate.

Citation

Leeworthy, T., & Ahangar Asr, A. Effects of various surcharge loading conditions on the stability of soil slopes. Presented at UK Association for Computational Mechanics 2020, Loughborough University

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: UK Association for Computational Mechanics 2020
• Conference Location: Loughborough University
• Online Publication Date: Apr 9, 2020
• Publication Date: Apr 9, 2020
• Deposit Date: Apr 17, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 28, 2020
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.17028/rd.lboro.12097698.v1
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.17028/rd.lboro.12097698.v1
• Related Public URLs: https://www.ukacm2020.ukacm.org/
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference