Research on the failure process and mechanism of soil slope in seasonal frozen regions based on numerical simulation

In seasonal frozen regions, shallow landslide hazards in soil slopes usually happen, which pose a serious threat to road safety operations. The direct influence factor of soil slope failure is the shear strength of the soil between the freezing and thawing surface. Continuum explicit finite difference method (FDM) is applied in the research, and the thawing process of soil slope is simulated. Then the failure mechanism and development process were obtained. Analysis reveals that, the failure surface is the interface between the frozen and thawed surface in the slope. Fully understanding of the freeze-thaw failure mechanisms could present the theoretical reference to the stability analysis, but also offer consult for the slope design and stability analysis in seasonal frozen regions, which presents strongly actual reference to the regional engineering.