Stability Analysis of Silty-Sandy Earth Slopes

Subjected to Earthquake Loading

Sahar Ismail & Riad Al Wardany
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rafik Hariri University,
Mechref, Lebanon
Fadi Hage Chehade
Numerical Center, Doctoral School of Science and Technology, IUT-Saida, Lebanese University, Beirut,
Lebanon

ABSTRACT
Geotechnical engineers have always considered slope stability analysis in evaluating land sliding risk, design of
embankments and excavations, and in urban development of hilly areas. Under specific soil conditions and loading, soil
slopes may undergo catastrophic failure and cause the destruction of properties and lives. This paper presents a
comprehensive computer modeling study on the behavior of silty-sandy earth slopes under seismic loading using the
finite difference method. The effects of the major factors that influence the behavior of soil slopes were investigated;
these factors included: slope height and angle, soil cohesion, angle of internal friction and frequency of the seismic load.
The influence of the model size on the results and that of boundary conditions were tested. The simulation results were
presented in terms of the soil permanent displacement, the amplification of the soil particles velocity along the slope and
the failure surface.

RÉSUMÉ
L’analyse de la stabilité des talus a été toujours prise en considération par les ingénieurs en géotechniques dans
l'évaluation des risques de glissements de terrain, dans la conception des ouvrages en remblais et des excavations et
dans le développement urbain des zones montagneuses. En effet, les pentes du sol peuvent subir une défaillance
catastrophique sous certaines conditions du sol et de chargement, pouvant provoquer la destruction des propriétés et la
perte des vies. Cette étude porte sur la modélisation compréhensive du comportement d’un talus limoneux -sableux
sous chargement sismiques en utilisant la méthode des différences finis. Les effets des facteurs principaux qui
influencent le comportement des pentes de sol ont été élucidés. Les paramètres testés sont les suivant : la taille du
modèle, la hauteur et l'angle de la pente, la cohésion du sol, l'angle de frottement interne et la fréquence de la charge
sismique. Les résultats des simulations ont été présentés en termes de déplacement permanent du sol, l’amplification de
la vitesse des particules du sol le long de la pente et de la surface de rupture.

1 INTRODUCTION urbanized and industrialized region in the last fifty years.

Slope stability of both natural and man-made slopes is a
fundamental design/analysis problem in geotechnical
engineering. The design of excavations, embankments
and earth dams as well as the safety evaluation of natural
slopes and land sliding against collapse is mainly
conducted through static analysis of the slope. Dynamic
analysis is used when the engineer needs to take into
account the risk of slope instability when subjected to
earthquake loading.
Failed slopes in history were generally associated with
extensive property damage and sometimes loss of human
lives. In zones of high seismic activities, soil slopes
become more prone to failure and the effect of
earthquake on the design becomes the main constraint
for the engineer.
According to the Second Global Forum on Landslides
which was held in Rome in 2011, damages that cost over
6 billion euros are caused every year by landslides in
industrialized countries. For example, in 1999 Kocaeli’s
earthquake hits Izmit in Turkey, It was one of the few 7.4
magnitude earthquakes that have stroke a highly
As a result, more than 17,000 people died and more than
120,000 housing units were either heavily collapsed or
damaged leaving about 600,000 people homeless.
In regions having low risk of earthquake, static
conditions of loading apply to the soil slopes and the
“factor of safety (FOS)” against failure is generally used
by the geotechnical engineers to assess the stability of
their soil slopes. However, in zones of moderate to severe
seismic risk, dynamic conditions of loading apply to the
soil slope and a slope of good FOS in its static loading
state may undergo catastrophic failure under seismic
loading. Pseudo-static approach exists to evaluate the
risk of failure of soil slopes subject to earthquake loading.
This approach was found to be generally conservative. In
fact, many slopes with low dynamic FOS calculated by the
pseudo-static method, and which are predicted to fail
under seismic loading did not really fail; they have rather
shown certain permanent displacement on their surfaces.
Thus, the need for more accurate methods of evaluation
has pushed for the development of several higher
methods such as the finite elements method, the finite
difference method and other methods. These latest
methods take into account the soil properties and the way
they affect its deformability in addition to the spectral In the aim of optimizing the time of computation,
characteristics of earthquake. They are able to compute several trials were conducted to choose the maximum
the soil particle displacement in the slope at any instant mesh size that can be used without affecting the accuracy
during the earthquake, which allows the engineer to base of the results. Finally a mesh size of 2m x 2m was
his design/assessment on the maximum allowable particle adopted.
displacement instead of the conservative dynamic FOS.
Loose soil was used in the slope while denser soil was
2 SCOPE OF WORK placed underneath. The cohesion and the internal friction
angle of the soil were symbolized by “c” and “ϕ°”
The objective of this research work is to present a respectively.
comprehensive study that uses a 2D finite difference
numerical modeling to analyze the stability of silty-sandy The values of H, A, α°, c and ϕ° were changed
soil slopes under seismic loading. The effects of all between the different tested models. They are listed in
involved parameters were studied; this aimed to identify Table 1. The rest of the soil mechanical properties in both
the sources of uncertainty in the prediction of slope failure the sloped soil and the bearing layer were kept the same
and to build an understanding on the constraints that in all models. They are listed in Table 2.
mostly affect the soil stability analysis procedure.
Table 1: The different tested models
This study quantitatively measures the effects of: soil
behavior, model size, slope height, slope angle, soil
cohesion, soil internal friction angle and seismic load
frequency on the results of the model. The obtained
results are discussed and presented in terms of the
horizontal displacement of the soil particles at the slope
surface (xdisp), the amplification in the velocity of the soil
particles (amplification) and the potential failure surface.

3 SOFTWARE USED

This paper was conducted using the numerical modeling

software Flac 3D “Advanced Three Dimensional
Continuum Modeling for Geotechnical Analysis of Rock,
Soil and Structural Support”. Flac involves complex
behavior models not suited for finite elements models
such as non linear material behavior, unstable systems
and large displacement and strains, etc. The software
allows for simulating the behavior of structures built of
soil, rock or other materials that may undergo plastic flow
when their yield limits are reached. The materials are Table 2: The soil mechanical properties that were kept
represented by elements or zones which form a grid that unchanged in all the models
can be adjusted by the user.
Bearing
Property Slope Layer
4 THE MODEL Elastic modulus (MPa) 900 25
Poisson’s ratio 0.25 0.3
Shear modulus (MPa) 400 9.6
Bulk modulus (MPa) 666 21
Dilation angle ψ° 3 9

Figure 1: Model geometry
A model with free field boundary conditions was
developed. The geometry of the model is shown in
Figure 1. In the adopted geometry, the height of the
sloped soil is symbolized by “H”. An equal height was
given for the soil bearing layer just below the slope. The
base of the model was taken equal to 3x”A” as illustrated
in Figure 1. The slope angle with respect to the horizontal
direction was symbolized by “α°”.
The seismic wave used to trigger the dynamic
behavior of the models was taken from Kocaeli’s
earthquake (f=0.9 Hz, Ms=7.4). To study the effect of the
seismic load frequency on the results of the model, a
synthetic harmonic wave (f=0.8 Hz) and another true
earthquake wave were used. This latest wave was taken
from Chichi’s earthquake (f=1.5 Hz, Ms=7.6).
The tested three waves are shown in Figure 2.
Spectral velocities were computed for Kocaeli’s and
Chichi’s earthquakes; they are illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure 2: Different seismic waves used in the models
a)
b)
Figure 3: Spectral velocity: a) Kocaeli’s earthquake,
Turkey 1999; b) Chichi’s earthquake, Taiwan 1999
5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
5.1 Effect of Material Behavior (Elastic vs. Plastic)
The elastic and plastic behaviors of soil under seismic
loading were tested. For both cases, the soil particle
displacement along the horizontal direction (x) at the
bottom, the middle and the top of the slope was
calculated with respect to time. The obtained results are
presented in Figure 4. In addition the maxima
amplifications of the particles velocities along the slope
surface were calculated for both types of behavior. They
are presented in Figure 5. Figures 6 and 7 show the
failure circles for the elastic and plastic behavior cases
respectively. The results at the end of the seismic loading
show that:
 For plastic soil behavior, the maximum soil
permanent displacement occurs at the middle of
the slope. No permanent displacement was
observed at the bottom of the slope.
 For elastic soil behavior, the soil permanent
displacement is relatively negligible.
 At the bottom of the slope identical permanent
displacements were measured for both
behaviors.
 The maximum amplification of the soil particles
velocity along the slope value occurs at the
bottom of the slope when the soil behavior is
plastic. It occurs at the middle of the slope when
the soil behavior is elastic.
 Clear failure circle was observed in the model
associated with the plastic behavior of the soil.
No clear failure circle was observed in the model
associated with the elastic behavior of soil.
0.2 at bottom
plastic
0 at bottom
elastic
xdisp (m)
‐0.2 at middle
plastic
‐0.4 at middle
elastic
‐0.6 at top
plastic
‐0.8
at top
0 10 Time (s) 20
elastic
Figure 4: Horizontal permanent displacement at bottom of
slope, at middle and at top for elastic and plastic
behaviors of material
In summary, significant permanent displacement at
the middle and the top of the slope and a clear failure
circle were noticed when the soil behavior was set to be
plastic. This was not attained in the case of elastic
behavior of soil. Therefore, the soil plastic behavior
reflects the true behavior of soil slopes when subjected to
seismic loading. Based on this, plastic behavior of soil will
be adopted in all the following studied models.
0 ‐0.8
0.2
0.4
z/H
elastic
0.6
plastic
0.8
1 (reference)
0 0.5 1 1.5
Amplification
Figure 5: Maximum amplification of particle velocity along
the slope for elastic and plastic soil behavior
Figure 6: Failure circle for elastic soil behavior
Figure 7: Failure circle for plastic soil behavior
5.2 Effect of Model Size
Figure 8 shows the permanent displacement of soil
particles at middle and top of the slope in terms of model
size along the horizontal direction (x). Figure 9 shows the
maximum amplification of the soil particles velocity along
the slope for different model sizes. The results show that
the horizontal permanent displacement of the soil
particles along the slope decreases with the increase in
the model size and it becomes almost the same for the
models having A=6H and greater, where H = 20m. The
amplification of the soil particles velocity along the slope
was observed to be almost equal for all model sizes.
Based on this finding, the time of computation was
optimized by choosing a model size having A=6H in all
the subsequent simulations conducted hereafter to study
the effect of the soil parameters, slope angle and seismic
loading on the stability soil slopes under earthquake
loading.
5.3 Effect of Slope Height
Figure 10 shows the permanent displacement of soil
particles along the horizontal direction (x) at the middle
and at the top of the soil slope obtained from different
models with different slope heights (H =14, 20 and 30 m).
‐1
xdisp (m)
‐0.6
‐0.4
‐0.2 at middle
at top
0
4H‐8H 6H‐12H 9H‐18H
Field size
Figure 8: Horizontal permanent displacement at middle
and at top with respect to model field size
0
0.2
0.4
 4H‐8H
z/H 0.6 6H‐12H
0.8 9H‐18H
1
0 1 2
Amplification
Figure 9: Maximum amplification of the particle velocity
along the slope for the effect of model field size
Figure 11 shows the maximum amplification of the soil
particles velocity along the soil slope obtained from
different models with different slope heights (H =14, 20
and 30 m). The results show that the horizontal
permanent displacement of the soil particles located in the
middle of the soil slope increases with the increase in the
slope height H. That for the soil particles located at the
top of the slope has similar behavior. However, the
variations become negligible for slope heights greater
than 20m. The amplification of the soil particles velocity
along the soil slope show different behavior: almost
identical amplifications were observed at the bottom of the
soil slope in the different models tested for different
heights. At the top of the soil slope, the results show that
the increase in the slope height was always associated
with an increase in the amplification in the three tested
cases. At the middle of the slope, the results show that
models with H = 20m and H = 30 m present close
amplification behavior comparing to that obtained from the
model with H = 14m.
Based on this finding, and on the fact that permanent
horizontal displacement of particles located at the top of
the soil slope are more critical and indicative of slope
failure than that of the particles located at the middle of
the soil slope, a slope height equal to 20 m was adopted region in the soil slope more than the lower region.
for the rest of simulations. Significant change in the amplification was identified when
the soil slope increased from 15° to 25°.
‐0.9
‐0.8
‐2 at middle
‐0.7
‐0.6 ‐1.5 at top
xdisp (m)

xdisp (m)
‐0.5
‐0.4 ‐1
‐0.3 at middle ‐0.5
‐0.2 at top
‐0.1 0
0 slope=15° slope=25° slope=30° slope=35°
H=14m H=20m H=30m (reference)
(reference) Slope Angle
Height
Figure 12: Variation of the horizontal permanent
Figure 10: Variation of the horizontal permanent displacement at the middle and at the top of the slope
displacement at the middle and at the top of the soil slope with respect to the slope angle
with respect to slope height
0 0
slope
0.2 0.2 angle=15
0.4 0.4 slope
H=14m
z/H
z/H

angle=25
0.6 H=20m 0.6
slope
0.8 H=30m 0.8 angle=30

1 1 slople
0 0.5 1 1.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 angle=35
Amplification Amplification

Figure 11: Variation of the maximum amplification of the Figure 13: Variation of the maximum amplification of the
soil particle velocity along the slope with respect to the soil particle velocity along the slope with respect to the
different slope heights different slope angles

5.5 Effect of Soil Cohesion

5.4 Effect of Soil Slope Angle
The variation of the horizontal permanent displacement of
the soil particles at the middle and at the top of the soil
slope with respect to the slope angle is shown in Figure
12. Figure 13 shows the variation of the maximum
amplification of the soil particle velocity along the slope
with respect to the different slope angles. The obtained
results indicate that both the horizontal displacement (at
top and middle of the slope) and the amplification of the
soil particle velocity along the slope are proportional to the
angle of the soil slope.
Moreover, the variation of the maximum amplification of
the soil particle velocity along the soil slope was found to
be more sensitive to the variation of the slope angle in the
upper region of the slope (0.7H). Figure 13 demonstrates
that the increase in the soil slope angle affects the upper
Figure 14 shows the variation of the horizontal permanent
displacement of soil particles at the middle and at the top
of the soil slope with respect to the soil cohesion. The
variation of the maximum amplification of the soil particle
velocity along the slope with respect to different soil
cohesion values is plotted in Figure 15. The results show
that for the soil in the slope, the horizontal permanent
displacement of the soil particles at the top and the middle
of the slope is inversely proportional to the soil cohesion
in the slope. In addition, the figure shows that the soil
cohesion in the stiff bearing stratum has little or no effect
on the horizontal permanent displacement of the soil
particles at the top and the middle of the slope.
The amplification of the soil particle velocity along the
slope was found to generally increase with the increase in
the soil cohesion value in the slope. On the other hand, 0
the increase in the soil cohesion of the bearing stratum
attenuates the amplification of the soil particle velocity in
the slope.
‐0.5

xdisp (m)
0
‐1 at middle
‐0.5
at top
xdisp (m)

‐1
‐1.5
‐1.5 at middle f2 f1 f3 f4
Friction angle (°)
‐2 at top

‐2.5 Figure 16: Variation of the horizontal permanent

displacement of the soil particles at the middle and at the
c5 c2 c1 c3 c4 top of the slope with respect to the soil friction angle
Cohesion (Pa)
0
Figure 14: Variation of the horizontal permanent
displacement of the soil particles at the middle and at the
0.2
top of the slope with respect to the soil cohesion f1
0.4

z/H
f2
0.6
0 f3
0.8
0.2 f4
c1
1
0.4 c2 0 0.5 1 1.5
z/H

Ampification
0.6 c3

0.8 c4 Figure 17: Variation of the maximum amplification of the

soil particle velocity along the soil slope with respect to
c5 different soil friction angle
1
0 0.5 1 1.5
Amplification 5.7 Effect of Seismic Load Frequency

Figure 15: Variation of the maximum amplification of the
soil particle velocity along the soil slope with respect to
different soil cohesion values
5.6 Effect of Soil Friction Angle
The variation of the horizontal permanent displacement of
the soil particles at the middle and at the top of the slope
with respect to the soil friction angle is shown in Figure
16. That of the maximum amplification of the soil particle
velocity along the soil slope with respect to different soil
friction angle is shown in Figure 17. The results conclude
that the horizontal permanent displacement of the soil
particles in the slope decreases and the amplification of
their velocity along the slope increases with the increase
in the soil friction angle value.
In addition, the figures show that the soil friction angle in
the bearing stratum has little or no effect on the horizontal
permanent displacement of the soil particles at the top
and the middle of the slope.
The natural frequency of the studied soil was calculated
and found to be equal to 0.87Hz. Figure 18 shows the
variation of the horizontal permanent displacement of the
soil particles at the middle and at the top of the soil slope
with respect to the frequency of the applied seismic load.
Figure 19 shows the variation of the maximum
amplification of the soil particle velocity along the slope
with respect to the different frequencies of the used
seismic loads. The obtained results indicate that the
horizontal displacement of the soil particles in the slope
decreases with the increase in the wave peak frequency.
Figure 19 identifies a zone that extends from the top of
the slope to a depth equal to 0.25H where the
amplification of the soil particle velocity along the slope
decreases with the increase in the wave peak frequency.
In this zone the amplification of the harmonic wave shape
is much more pronounced than those of the true
earthquake cases.
 0  Both the horizontal displacement (at top and
middle of the slope) and the amplification of the
‐0.5 soil particle velocity along the slope are
proportional to the angle of the soil slope.
‐1
xdisp (m)

 The variation of the maximum amplification of

‐1.5 at middle the soil particle velocity along the soil slope was
is more sensitive to the variation of the slope
‐2 at top angle in the upper region of the slope (0.7H).
‐2.5  The amplification of the soil particle velocity
along the slope generally increases with the
‐3 increase in the soil cohesion value in the slope.
Harmonic Kocaeli Chichi  The increase in the soil cohesion of the bearing
stratum attenuates the amplification of the soil
Load frequency 
particle velocity in the slope.
 The horizontal permanent displacement of the
Figure 18: Variation of the horizontal permanent soil particles in the slope decreases and the
displacement of the soil particles at the middle and at the amplification of their velocity along the slope
top of the soil slope with respect to seismic load increases with the increase in the soil friction
frequency angle.
 The soil friction angle in the bearing stratum has
0 little or no effect on the horizontal permanent
displacement of the soil particles at the top and
0.2 the middle of the slope.
Harmonic
 The horizontal displacement of the soil particles
0.4 Kocaeli in the slope decreases with the increase in the
z/H

wave peak frequency. In a zone that extends

0.6 Chichi from the top of the slope to a depth equal to
0.25H, the amplification of the soil particle
0.8 velocity along the slope decreases with the
increase in the wave peak frequency.
1  In this zone the amplification of the harmonic
0 2 4 wave shape is much more pronounced than
Amplification those of the studied true earthquake cases.

7 ACKNOLEDGMENT
Figure 19: Variation of the maximum amplification of the
soil particle velocity along the slope with respect to The authors acknowledge the financial support of Rafik
different seismic load frequencies Hariri University and the in-kind support of Lebanese
University.

6 CONCLUSIONS
The results of the modeling effort presented in the current
paper form a comprehensive guide for the design/analysis
and failure risk evaluation of silty-sandy earth slopes and
embankments in seismic zones.
A slope stability analysis was performed for a 20m height silty
sandy slope with an inclination angle of 30°.The analysis
considered the effects of material behavior, model size,
slope height, slope angle, soil cohesion, soil friction angle
and load frequency. The results were presented in terms
of the permanent horizontal displacement of soil particles
along the slope, the amplification of the soil particle
velocity along the slope and the failure surface. The
following conclusions were drawn:
 The soil plastic behavior reflects the true
behavior of soil slope when subjected to a
seismic loading and should be adopted in the
dynamic analysis of slope stability.
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