Slope stability analysis considering joined influences of nonlinearity and dilation

The soil masses of slopes were assumed to follow a nonlinear failure criterion and a nonassociated flow rule. The stability factors of slopes were calculated using vertical slice method based on limit analysis. The potential sliding mass was divided into a series of vertical slices as well as the traditional slice technique. Equating the external work rate to the internal energy dissipation, the optimum solutions to stability factors were determined by the nonlinear programming algorithm. From the numerical results, it is found that the present solutions agree well with previous results when the nonlinear criterion reduces to the linear criterion, and the nonassociated flow rule reduces to the associated flow rule. The stability factors decrease by 39.7% with nonlinear parameter varying from 1.0 to 3.0. Dilation and nonlinearity have significant effects on the slope stability factors. Foundation item: Project (200550) supported by the Foundation for the Author of National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation of China; Project (200631878557) supported by West Traffic of Science and Technology of China