Slice-free method for stability analysis of slopes

Abstract

By means of remedying stress on the slip surface and taking the whole sliding body as the loaded object, a global limit equilibrium analysis for the sliding body is proposed. Because all those relevant area integrals over the sliding body are transformed into the relevant boundary integrals through Green's formula; meanwhile, no slices are necessary when implementing the proposed method. The proposed method enjoys excellent numerical properties and can be easily generalized to the three-dimensional situations in which all the six equilibrium conditions can be satisfied. This study demonstrates the application of the procedure to two-dimensional situations.