Simplified Numerical Implementation in Slope Stability Modeling: Fid-Bau Portal

Simplified Numerical Implementation in Slope Stability Modeling

Tiwari, R. C.

Abstract

This paper mainly focuses on numerical implementations in slope instability computations through three simplified numerical procedures, i.e., FEM, mesh-free method (MFM), and spectral-element method (SEM), in one sample problem that was originally solved by the FEM. This work validates all three numerical procedures through comparison of the results with the sample problem, and also briefly describes all three numerical procedures and their scopes and limitations. Among the three procedures, the SEM-based procedure is found to be more effective in handling simple to complex problems of a small- to large-scale size because of its effective computational capacity as well as higher degree of work accuracy. For this, a newly released open-source program has been used along with two other programming codes developed in FEM and MFM platforms. This work also presents a sample simulation of large-scale slope stability using the $h$ -refinement (i.e., meshing), $p$ -refinement (i.e., mapping), and $h p$ -refinement (i.e., meshing and mapping) technique of the SEM approach in different instability conditions, such as soil saturation and pseudostatic seismic loading. Furthermore, the SEM procedure can be effectively applied to slope stability modeling for numerical stability and accuracy in small- to large-scale mountain failure.