Landslides and Engineered Slopes – Chen et al.

(eds)
© 2008 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-41196-7

Investigations on the accuracy of the simplified Bishop method

D.Y. Zhu
School of Civil and Water Resources Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, China

ABSTRACT: This paper describes the reason why the simplified Bishop method always gives factors of safety
of circular slip surfaces in good agreement with those given by the rigorous methods. The absence of vertical
interslice force in the factor of safety equation in this method only means a summation regarding the vertical
interslice forces has been neglected. An appropriate set of vertical interslice forces could be found that: (1)
allows this term to be zero, (2) renders the satisfaction of the horizontal equilibrium condition, and (3) gives
the same factor of safety. In other words, the simplified Bishop method implicitly satisfies the rigorous limit
equilibrium conditions.
Key words: simplified Bishop method, limit equilibrium, slope stability, factor of safety

1 INTRODUCTION
The simplified Bishop method (Bishop, 1955) has
been widely used in slope stability analysis and is
regarded as the best method of limit equilibrium
for calculating the factors of safety of circular slip
surfaces. In this method, the interslice forces are
assumed to be horizontal, or the vertical interslice
forces are neglected, the vertical force equilibrium and
the moment equilibrium about the centre of the circu-
lar slip surfaces are satisfied, but the horizontal force
equilibrium is not considered. Thus, the simplified
Bishop method is still regarded as one of the non-
rigorous limit equilibrium methods of slices. However,
the simplified Bishop method always gives factors
of safety of circular slip surfaces in good agreement
and Ei+1 , the vertical interslice forces are Xi and Xi+1 ,
the normal force at the base is Ei , the shear resistance
at the base is Ti , the pore water pressure at the base
is ui , the effective internal friction angle and cohesion
are φi and ci , respectively. The factor of safety along
the slip surface is Fs .
According to Mohr-Column failure criterion and
the principle of effective stress:
R
xb
y bi
(n)

with those given by other rigorous methods of slices (i) X i+1

such as the Morgenstern-Price method (Morgenstern x Ei+1
o Ei
and Price, 1965) and the Spencer method (Spencer, xa Wi
(1)
1967). In the profession of geotechnical engineering, (2) Xi
Ti
the simplified Bishop method has been accepted as the
accurate method of slices, although it dos not satisfy i Ni
all the limit equilibrium conditions (Duncan, 1996).
The problem why the simplified Bishop method is so
accurate has puzzled the profession for over 50 years. X
This study attempts to give a theoretical study on this
issue.
xa xm xb

X/b
2 FUNDAMENTALS

A sliding body about a circular slip surface of radius

R is divided into n vertical slices, as shown in Fig. 1.
For the ith slice, the width is bi , the angle of base is αi ,
the weight is Wi , the horizontal interslice forces are Ei Figure 1. Sliding body and forces acting on the slice.

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Ti = (Ni − ui bi sec αi ) tan φi /Fs + ci bi sec αi /Fs (1) still identical to that of the simplified Bishop method.
Furthermore, if that set of vertical interslice forces are
Consider the vertical force equilibrium condition so selected that the horizontal force equilibrium con-
dition is satisfied, then the factor of safety computed
Ni cos αi + Ti sin αi = Wi + Xi+1 − Xi (2) by equation (6) or (7) corresponds to that of rigorous
method of slices since all the three equilibrium condi-
From equations (1) and (2), one obtains tions are completely satisfied. The key issue is to find
such a set of vertical interslice forces that not only
Ni = (Wi + Xi+1 − Xi + ui bi tan αi tan φi /Fs satisfy the horizontal force equilibrium condition but
also equation (8).
− ci bi tan αi /Fs )/mαi (3) Consider the horizontal force equilibrium for the
 whole sliding body:
Ti = (Wi + Xi+1 − Xi − ui bi ) tan φi /Fs
 
n
+ ci bi /Fs /mαi (4) (Ti cos αi − Ni sin αi ) = 0
sin αi tan φi /Fs
i=1
mαi = cos αi + (5)
and substitute equations (3) and (4) into the above
Consider the moment equilibrium with respect to the
equation, one obtains:
centre of circular slip surface:
n 


n 
n
Ti R = Wi R sin αi (Wi + Xi+1 − Xi )(cos αi tan φi /Fs − sin αi )
i=1
i=1 i=1
8
− (ui bi tan φi − ci bi )/(Fs cos αi ) mαi = 0
Substituting equations (3) and (4) into the above
equation gives (9)

n   Now what remains is to find the distribution of ver-

i=1 (Wi + Xi+1 − Xi − ui bi ) tan φi + ci bi /mαi
Fs = n tical interslice forces X that simultaneously satisfy
i=1 Wi sin αi equations (8) and (9).
Similar to the Correia method (Correia, 1988), the
(6) distribution of vertical interslice forces is of the form
The simplified Bishop method assumes that the con- as follows
tribution of vertical interslice forces to the factor of
safety is neglected, hence X = λf (x) (10)
n
[(Wi − ui bi ) tan φi + ci bi ]/mαi where f (x) is interslice force function and λ is the
Fs = i=1 n (7)
i=1 Wi sin αi
scaling factor. The difference between the vertical
interslice forces on the two sides of the slice is

3 SATISFACTION OF HORIZONTAL FORCE Xi+1 − Xi = Xi = λfi bi (11)

EQUILIBRIUM
Substitute of equation (11) into (8) leads to
The vertical interslice forces do not appear in the factor
of safety equation of the simplified Bishop method. 
n
This does not mean the vertical interslice forces should fi bi · tan φi /mαi = 0 (12)
be zero. In fact, from equation (6), we can see if the i=1
following equation holds
The value of λ is determined according to the hori-

n
zontal force equilibrium. Substitute of equation (11)
(Xi+1 − Xi ) · tan φi /mαi =0 (8) into (9) gives
i=1

equation (6) is identical to equation (7). n

Ai/mαi
In other words, if a set of vertical interslice force λ = ni=1  (13)
exist that satisfy equation (8), the factor of safety is i=1 i bi /mα
f

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in which 4 EXAMPLE

Ai = −Wi (cos αi tan φi /Fs − sin αi ) A homogeneous slope has a circular slip surface, as
shown in Fig. 2. The unit weight is 18.4 kN/m3 , the
+ (ui bi tan φi − ci bi )/(Fs cos αi ) (14) cohesion and the internal friction angle are 25 kPa and
22◦ respectively.
For a circular slip surface, the interslice force func- The factor of safety is 2.08 computed by the sim-
tion f (x) satisfying equation (12) can be found, giving plified Bishop method. When the interslice force
the factor of safety that is identical to that of the simpli- function f (x) is chosen as equation (15) with xm =
fied Bishop method. The value of λ is then determined 36.9, equation (12) is satisfied. From equation (13),
from equation (13), resulting in the distribution of the the scaling factor λ is calculated as 1988.62. The dis-
vertical interslice force satisfying the horizontal force tribution of the vertical and horizontal interslice forces
equilibrium condition. is shown in Fig. 2.
For simplicity, the interslice force function f (x) can
be chosen as (see Fig. 1)
⎧ x−x 5 CONCLUSION
⎪
⎪
a
xa ≤ x ≤ xm
⎨ xm − x a
f (x) = (15) The simplified Bishop method, which neglects the
⎪
⎪ xb − x vertical interslice forces and takes no account of the
⎩ xm < x ≤ xb
xb − x m horizontal force equilibrium condition, has accuracy
as high as the rigorous limit equilibrium methods
Thus of slices. This has been confirmed by experiences
⎧ of many practitioners, but not been explained theo-
⎪ 1 retically. This study shows that the factor of safety
⎪
⎨ xa ≤ x ≤ xm
x − xa equation of the simplified Bishop method does not
f  (x) =
m
(16) require that the vertical interslice forces be zero, but a
⎪
⎪ 1
⎩− xm < x ≤ xb term designated by Eq. (8), be zero. This condition can
xb − x m be realized by assigning an appropriate distribution of
Since the simplified Bishop method implicitly sat- vertical interslice forces that satisfies the horizontal
isfies all the complete equilibrium conditions through force equilibrium condition simultaneously, and lead
proper selection of vertical interslice force distribu- to a factor of safety identical to that of the simplified
tion, it is not strange that the simplified Bishop method Bishop method. Since the approach satisfies the com-
has the accuracy that compares with that of other plete equilibrium conditions, this method has accuracy
rigorous methods of slices. so high that can compares with the Morgenstern-Price
method and the Spencer method.
(18, 66)

REFERENCES
=18.4kN/m3
c =25kPa R =85m
30.0m Bishop, A.W. The use of the slip circle in the stability analysis
=22˚ of earth slopes. Géotechnique 1955, 5(1): 7–17.
2 Correia, R.M. A limit equilibrium method of slope stabil-
1 ity analysis. Proc. 5th Int. Symp. Landslides, Lausanne,
0.0m 1988, 595–598.
Duncan, J.M. State of the art: limit equilibrium and finite-
element analysis of slopes. J. Geotech. Engrg., ASCE,
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Morgenstern, N.R., and Price, V.E. The analysis of the stabi-
kN/m lity of general slip surfaces. Géotechnique, 1965, 15(1):
10000 79–93.
8000 Spencer, E. A method of analysis of the stability of embank-
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ments assuming parallel interslice forces. Géotechnique,
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1967, 17(1): 11–26.
4000 Zhu, D.Y., Lee, C.F. and Jiang, H.D. Generalized framework
2000 X of limit equilibrium methods for slope stability analysis.
0 Géotechnique, 2003, 53(4): 377–395.
-20 0 20 40 60 80 m

Figure 2. Slope and interslice forces distribution.

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