COMPARISON OF SEISMIC SLOPE STABILITY ASSESSMENT METHODS FOR REINFORCED GEOSTRUCTURES

The construction of geosynthetically reinforced earth structures is constantly developing over the last decades. Seismic design of unreinforced and reinforced embankments and slopes is of extreme importance, due to the environmental and economical consequences related to a potential failure. The main factors that can cause instability are those which tend to increase the shear stresses that are developed in the soil and/or to decrease its shear resistance. These phenomena become more pronounced when dynamic loads are applied to earth structures, such as those due to earthquakes. For this purpose, this work investigates the dynamic distress of reinforced soil structures due to seismic wave propagation. Current seismic design procedures of such technical works involve an amended version of static design methods. Hence, the seismic design of these structures does not account for several important factors, like the compound failure and the global instability which were observed in damaged structures after post-earthquake investigation. The aim of the current study is to assess the dynamic response of reinforced soil structures via different methodologies and to compare the most commonly used approaches for their seismic slope stability assessment.