Seismic Ultimate Bearing Capacity of a Hoek-Brown Rock Slope Using Discretization-Based Kinematic Analysis and Pseudodynamic Methods

This study presents a novel procedure for predicting rock slope stability in the presence of an earthquake by using pseudodynamic and discretization-based kinematic analysis methods. In contrast to a presumed failure mechanism, the discretization technique generates a potential failure surface according to the associated flow rule; that is, the velocity vector is always inclined at a friction angle with respect to the tangent line of a random point along the velocity discontinuities. This technique is widely applicable to various ground-profile conditions. Using the widely used nonlinear Hoek-Brown criterion, the generalized tangential technique was used to transform the strength parameters into mobilized cohesion and friction angles. Then, the slope bearing capacity was derived on the basis of a work-rate balance equation under the upper-bound theorem. The pseudostatic analyses are presented with the conventional and discretized-kinematic approaches to validate the robustness of the proposed approach. It was found that the pseudostatic analysis tended to yield more conservative solutions for slope bearing capacity than did the pseudodynamic approach. Furthermore, a parametric study was carried out and presented to highlight the effect of some influential factors on slope stability.