This paper presents a study on the stability of slope in considering of dynamic characteristics of seismic loads. A new formula is proposed to calculate the safe factor of layered rock slope under seismic loads, based on the combination of the limit equilibrium analysis and the pseudo-dynamic method. Then, by comparing with the safe factor calculated by pseudo-static method, the deduced formula is proved to be available to calculate the safe factor of layered rock slope. Finally, parametric studies are carried out to investigate the influence of the joint friction angle, the seismic acceleration coefficients, the dip angle of the joint surface and the slope angle on seismic stability of layered rock slopes.
Stability analysis of rock slopes is crucial for safe design in geotechnical engineering. The analytical study of stability of slopes under static condition has been carried out extensively by using the limit equilibrium method (e.g. Srbulov 2001), the upper bound limit analysis (e.g. Porbaha 2000), the lower bound limit analysis (e.g. Singh 1993, Michalowski 1995), and the slop line method (e.g. Zhao 1996). Under seismic loading, Ling et al. (1997) used the pseudo-static approach in conjunction with the limit equilibrium method to assess the stability and permanent displacement of geosynthetic reinforced soil structures subjected to horizontal earthquake acceleration.
