A detailed investigation of failure mechanism of seismic slope by using discontinuous deformation analysis

Due to the characteristics of actual time and large displacement, the discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) method has a distinct advantage in the run-out analysis of landslides. Thus, this paper utilizes DDA method to investigate the failure mechanism of soil slope subjected to the earthquake. Since the DDA simulation results are sensitive to the geometries of blocks, the shape of the potential sliding surface is vital to generation of DDA model. With the combination of shear strength reduction technique and finite element method, the shape of potential sliding surface can be determined firstly. Then, DDA model of the example slope is generated according to the shape of potential sliding surface and subsequently adopted in the dynamic analysis. The numerical simulation results show that the horizontal seismic force will lead to the emergence of the fractures and tension cracks, and then result in a complicated failure mechanism.