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Introduction
It is generally assumed that during a seismic event the loading is so rapid that there will be no change in
the shearing resistance along a potential slips surface. Stated another way, it is generally assumed that
the soil will behave in an undrained manner. The seismic loading may increase the total stress at the
base of a slice and there may be an equivalent change in the pore-pressure, but the effective stress will
remain unchanged, and consequently the strength will remain unchanged. A staged pseudo-static
analysis can be completed to give consideration to this scenario. Two options are available for
calculating the undrained strengths prior to the application of the seismic forces.
et al. (1990) require both the effective stress strength properties and those corresponding to the
undrained R-envelop. These two strength envelops are used to compute an equivalent undrained
strength at the base of each slice. The None option results in a conventional, single stage, pseudostatic analysis (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Dropdown menu for selecting the staged pseudo-static option for calculating strengths.
Example problem
Several examples were created in association with the development of the UTEXAS slope stability
software package. One of the examples (Example M) was created to illustrate a staged pseudo-static
stability analysis. The example configuration is shown in Figure 2.
The domain represents a 230-foot high water retention embankment with 2:1 side slopes. The fill
material is clay. The saturated total unit weight is 135 pcf and the unit weight for the soil above the
water table is 132 pcf.
The effective stress shear strength envelope (S) is defined by c = 0.0 and = 32. The total strength
envelope (R) is defined by c = 2000 psf and = 15. As is evident in Figure 3, the two envelopes cross
over at 5600 psf.
One trial slip surface is considered for illustrative purposes (Figure 4). The specified pseudo-static
seismic coefficient is 0.2. Four analyses were completed: 1) a conventional analysis excluding seismic
forces; 2) a conventional pseudo-static analysis; 3) staged pseudo-static analysis using effective stress
strengths; and, 4) staged pseudo-static analysis using undrained strength calculated according to
Duncan et al. (1990).
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-550
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feet
Figure 2 Problem configuration
S envelope
R envelope
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Effective normal - psf
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Effective stress
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Slice #
Summary
SLOPE/W has the option to consider an undrained response when doing a pseudo-static analysis. Two
methods are available for computing the undrained strengths at the base of each slice. The strengths
are calculated in the first stage of the analysis when the seismic forces are excluded. The strengths are
then locked in for the second stage of the analysis when the seismic forces are included.
The simple effective stress approach requires only the conventional effective stress strength properties.
The strength calculations proposed by Duncan et al. (1990) also requires the definition of the total stress
(R) strength parameters.
References
Duncan, J.M.,Wright S.G. and Wong, K.S. (1990). Slope Stability during Rapid Drawdown. Proceedings
of H. Bolton Seed Memorial Symposium. Vol. 2.
Duncan, J.M. and Wright, S.G (2005). Soil Strength and Slope Stability, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.