Earthquake-induced slope displacements in heterogeneous soils with tensile strength cut-off

This study aims to propose an effective approach to estimate the earthquake-induced displacements of a slope in heterogeneous soils considering the tensile strength cut-off. In the framework of the upper-bound limit analysis theory, an improved failure mechanism generated from the slope crest using the discretization technique is developed to determine the critical seismic acceleration coefficients with tensile strength cut-off. By using the Newmark’s method, the earthquake-induced displacements of slopes are then estimated based on the proposed failure mechanism. The proposed method is validated by comparisons with experimental results and numerical modellings in terms of the predicted displacements and failure surfaces. Finally, the displacements induced by a real earthquake are presented for two heterogeneous slopes with considering tensile strength cut-off.