The Global Critical Slip Field of Slope under Variational Reservoir Level

Changing reservoir level is one of the most important factors causing a slope failure of banks. On the basis of the principle of optimality, along with the method of slices, a global critical slip field (GCSF) in a slope with considering reservoir level change is developed. The analyses were carried out using program GCSF and SLOPE/W. The proposed method is proved to be an efficient and accuracy tool for slope stability analysis subjected to reservoir level change. In the presented method, no restrictions are imposed on the shape of the slip surfaces. The results demonstrate that slip surfaces should not be restricted to a circular shape for real problems. With the reservoir level lowering, the slope safety factor reduces, and import points for critical slip surface also change.