SLOPE FAILURE ANALYSIS USING LOCAL MINIMUM FACTOR-OF-SAFETY APPROACH

An approach using the minimum factors of safety against local failures is presented. The state of the effective stresses in a slope is calcu lated by the finite element method with the Drucker-Prager nonlinear s tress-strain relationship. The shear strength of soil is estimated bas ed on the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. A critical slip surface is d efined by connecting those local failure points in a slope along their directions of slippage. The factor of safety obtained by the proposed method is in good agreement with that determined by Bishop's and Sarm a's methods. The locations of the critical slip surfaces, however, dev iate slightly from Bishop's method due possibly to the assumptions mad e in the formulation of each method.