A pseudo-coupled numerical approach for stability analysis of frozen soil slopes based on finite element limit analysis method

摘要

To simplify the stability analysis of frozen soil slope, a pseudo-coupled numerical approach is developed. In this approach, the coupled heat transfer and water flow in frozen soils are simulated first, and based on the computed thermal-hydro field, the stability of frozen soil slope is evaluated. Although the shear strength for frozen soil is very complicated and is usually represented by a nonlinear MC failure criterion, a simple linear MC yield criterion is utilized. In this method, the internal friction angle is expressed as a function of volumetric ice content and the cohesion is fitted as a simple bilinear expression of T and volumetric water content. To assess slope stability, the limit analysis is employed in conjunction with the recently developed α-section search algorithm. A frozen soil slope example is used to examine the proposed pseudo-coupled numerical approach, and numerical studies validate its effectiveness. Based on numerical results, it is seen that slope stability may be remarkably influenced by warming air (or ground surface) temperature. With increasing ground surface temperature, slope stability indicated by FOS may reduce to 1.0, implying that warming air temperature could be a trigger of frozen soil slope failure.