LIMIT EQUILIBRIUM AND CONTINUUM （极限平衡和连续）.pdf

LIMIT EQUILIBRIUM AND CONTINUUM MECHANICS-BASED NUMERICAL METHODS FOR ANALYZING STABILITY OF MSE WALLS 1 2 Jie Han (Member, ASCE) and Dov Leshchinsky (Member, ASCE) ABSTRACT Limit equilibrium (LE) methods have been commonly used to analyze stability of geosynthetic-reinforced slopes. LE methods assume a potential slip surface, the soils along this slip surface providing shear resistance, and geosynthetic reinforcement providing tensile forces and resisting moments. Continuum mechanics-based numerical method has become increasingly used in recent years for slope stability analysis. Continuum mechanics-based numerical method assumes a reduction of soil strength by a factor to reach a critical state prior to failure. Both methods yield factors of safety of the system. This paper presents a study to investigate the stability of MSE walls (vertical or 20o batter) using LE and numerical methods. The comparisons of the critical slip surface and the factor of safety are made when the predicted factor of safety using the LE approach is equal to 1.0. It is concluded that properly adopted LE approach can be used to analyze the stability of MSE walls. Keywords: Continuum mechanics, factor of safety, limit equilibrium, walls INTRODUCTION Limit equilibrium methods have been used for decades to safely design major geotechnical structures. Bishop’s simplified method, utilizing a circular arc slip surface, is probably the most popular limit equilibrium method. Although Bishop’s method is not rigorous in a sense that it does not satisfy horizontal force limit equilibrium, it is simple to apply and, in many practical problems, and it yields results close to rigorous limit equilibrium methods. In