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Seismic stability of expansive soil slopes reinforced by anchor cables using a modified horizontal slice method

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Abstract

Earthquake-induced slope failures are common occurrences in engineering practice and pre-stressed anchor cables are an effective technique in maintaining slope stability, especially in areas that are prone to earthquakes. Furthermore, the soil at typical engineering sites also exhibit unsaturated features. Explicit considerations of these factors in slope stability estimations are crucial in producing accurate results. In this study, the seismic responses of expansive soil slopes stabilized by anchor cables is studied in the realm of kinematic limit analysis. A modified horizontal slice method is proposed to semi-analytically formulate the energy balance equation. An illustrative slope is studied to demonstrate the influences of suction, seismic excitations and anchor cables on the slope stability. The results indicate that the stabilizing effect of soil suction relates strongly to the seismic excitation and presents a sine shape as the seismic wave propagates. In higher and steeper slopes, the stabilizing effect of suction is more evident. The critical slip surface tends to be much more shallow as the seismic wave approaches the peak and vice versa.

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Acknowledgement

This research was conducted with financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52208345, 52008124, 52268054), the Opening Fund of State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection (Grant No. SKLGP2022K002), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20210479) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. JUSRP121055).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechnical Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China

    Long Wang

  2. Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211816, China

    Long Wang & Guoxing Chen

  3. State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironmental Protection, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610059, China

    Long Wang & Wei Hu

  4. Faculty of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China

    Enquan Zhou

  5. Architectural Engineering College, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang, 550025, China

    Jianxue Feng

  6. School of Civil Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou, 730050, China

    Anping Huang

Authors
  1. Long Wang
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  2. Guoxing Chen
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  3. Wei Hu
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  4. Enquan Zhou
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  5. Jianxue Feng
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wei Hu.

Additional information

Supported by: National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 52208345, 52008124, 52268054, the Opening Fund of State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection under Grant No. SKLGP2022K002, the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province under Grant No. BK20210479 and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities under Grant No. JUSRP121055

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Wang, L., Chen, G., Hu, W. et al. Seismic stability of expansive soil slopes reinforced by anchor cables using a modified horizontal slice method. Earthq. Eng. Eng. Vib. 23, 377–387 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11803-024-2242-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11803-024-2242-z

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