Three-dimensional seismic stability of slopes reinforced by soil nails

Seismic stability of slopes reinforced with soil nails has been traditionally investigated by two-dimensional limit equilibrium method. In this paper, the strength reduction method in combination with the kinematic approach of limit analysis is employed to assess the factor of safety (Fos) of slopes reinforced by soil nails using the three-dimensional rotational failure mechanism. The pseudo static approach is used to represent the seismic effects. Both the tensile failure and pull-out failure of soil nails are considered in the computations of internal energy dissipations. Comparisons are made to validate the proposed approach, which shows that the implemented approach is an efficient design tool for evaluating the factor of safety of slopes reinforced by soil nails. Parametric analysis is conducted to discuss the influence of model parameters, including nail length, nail density, soil shear strength and seismic forces, on slope stability. A set of stability charts is finally provided for fast assessments of slope safety.