Abstract The present study presents a novel procedure to assess the seismic slope stability, using the finite-element upper-bound method combined with the pseudo-dynamic approach. A pioneering work is performed to incorporate the pseudo-dynamic accelerations into the finite-element upper-bound analysis which combines the advantages of upper bound and finite element methods. The finite element method is principally used to discretize the domain of soil mass into finite elements, aiming to construct a kinematically admissible failure mechanism based on which the external and internal rates of work can be expressed. Based on the upper bound theorem, the upper bound formulations are derived from the virtual work rate equation, in the form of slope safety factor and limit surcharge acting on the slope crest. The problem of seeking the optimal upper bound solution is transformed to solve a linear programming problem within numerous kinematically admissible velocity fields, and this is achieved by using the interior-point algorithm implemented into the MATLAB. Pseudo-dynamic solutions are calculated and compared with the pseudo-static, limit equilibrium and FLAC results. The proposed procedure is versatile in considering the homogeneity and non-homogeneity of soil strength properties in seismic slope stability analysis. A benchmark problem with 0.5 m thick weak interlayer is discussed.

中文翻译：

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考虑拟动力法的地震边坡稳定性有限元上界分析

摘要 本研究提出了一种评估地震边坡稳定性的新方法，该方法使用有限元上限法与拟动力法相结合。一项开创性的工作是将拟动力加速度纳入有限元上界分析，结合了上限和有限元方法的优点。有限元法主要用于将土体的域离散为有限元，旨在构建一个运动学上允许的破坏机制，基于该机制可以表达外部和内部工作率。基于上界定理，上界公式是从虚拟工作率方程中推导出来的，形式为边坡安全系数和作用在坡顶上的极限附加费。寻找最优上界解的问题被转化为在众多运动学允许速度场内解决线性规划问题，这是通过使用在 MATLAB 中实现的内点算法来实现的。计算伪动力解并与伪静态、极限平衡和 FLAC 结果进行比较。所提出的程序在考虑地震边坡稳定性分析中土体强度特性的均匀性和非均匀性方面是通用的。讨论了一个具有 0.5 m 厚弱夹层的基准问题。计算伪动力解并与伪静态、极限平衡和 FLAC 结果进行比较。所提出的程序在考虑地震边坡稳定性分析中土体强度特性的均匀性和非均匀性方面是通用的。讨论了一个具有 0.5 m 厚弱夹层的基准问题。计算伪动力解并与伪静态、极限平衡和 FLAC 结果进行比较。所提出的程序在考虑地震边坡稳定性分析中土体强度特性的均匀性和非均匀性方面是通用的。讨论了一个具有 0.5 m 厚弱夹层的基准问题。