Effect of spatial variability of soil properties on the stability and permanent seismic displacements of highway slopes

Abstract

The effect of spatial variability of soil properties, slope inclination and excitation characteristics on the development of permanent displacements is investigated using random fields, created by the Local Average Subdivision method. These random fields of properties are characterized by specific mean, variance, cross-correlation coefficients and autocorrelation lengths and used for performing stability and seismic analysis of various slopes using the finite difference software FLAC. Statistical analysis of the results of an extensive parametric investigation leads to the development of vulnerability curves, based on the permanent horizontal or resultant displacement for several seismic intensity levels. The results of parametric analysis show that the influence of spatial variability of soil properties is very important. © The authors and IGS: All rights reserved, 2019.