Numerical Evaluation of Slope Stability for Construction and Seismic Loads: Case Study

Al-Najaf, one of Iraq's most important cities, is expected to grow in the coming years. Many buildings located on the slopes of Al-Najaf, which is near the shrine of Imam Ali, possess important economic and tourism values. This paper examines the stability of the city's slope under a variety of conditions, including slope geometry, neighbor structure loading, and earthquake magnitude. A computer-aided 2D Finite Element Method is adopted in the analysis. A set of soil classification and identification tests were carried out in addition to the available required soil parameters in the constitutive modeling. The Mohr-Coulomb model is applied to define the failure state that began in the slope. The results show that the slope is stable due to its weight and geometry, with a minimum factor of safety of 2.6. While under footing loading, this factor of safety decreases to less than 1.8. The most hazardous condition is when the slope has been subjected to seismic loading and the factor of safety is less than unity, for all investigated cases and characteristics, where the slopes would collapse.