1D DYNAMIC NON-LINEAR NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF EARTH SLOPES: THE ROLE OF SOIL DUCTILITY AND TIME-SENSITIVENESS

The mechanical response of dry granular slopes subjected to dynamic perturbations is tackled from a theoretical/numerical viewpoint. A 1D geometrical/numerical scheme is adopted to analyze infinitely long strata: the dynamic activation of shallow translational failure mechanisms (as well as the displacement performance far from collapse) is analyzed by means of a self-made FEM code. The soil mechanical behavior is described by means of a simplified viscoplastic one-dimensional constitutive model, capable of reproducing both ductile (hardening) and brittle (softening) mechanical responses. The dependence of numerical results on the soil “time-sensitiveness”, as well as the differences between viscoplasticity and standard rate-independent plasticity, is discussed. For the case of impulse-like loads (Ricker wavelets), the influence of the ratio between the dominant wavelength and the stratum thickness on the overall deformation mechanism is commented. The response of the slope to a real accelerometric record is finally illustrated.