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Fracture Simulation in Materials | SLOPE STABILITY ANALYSIS |  |
The Shear Strength Reduction Method (SRM) implemented in Disroc is a very powerful and effective method for determining the stability of slopes and other geotechnical structures. The advantage of Disroc's slope stability analysis, compared to limit equilibrium methods (Bishop, Morgenstern-Price, Janbu, Spencer), lies in its use of the Finite Element Method. In limit equilibrium methods, the slope is divided into several rigid slices or blocks for which the balance of forces (gravity, fluid pressure) and their momentum is analyzed. Interactions between the blocks are taken into account to varying degrees and safety factors for different potential failure mechanisms are then calculated. This leads to very fast but very approximate methods, which have several limitations.
The SRM begins by determining the equilibrium state of the slope under the loads applied to the system. Pressure fields and boundary conditions are also integrated into the model. The material strength parameters, namely their cohesion and friction angle, are then reduced by a factor F > 1. For a given value of this factor, the strength parameters become too low to make possible an equilibrium state respecting the material strength. This value defines the system's safety factor.
The SRM implemented in Disroc is therefore a rigorous method for calculating the safety factor because, based on Finite Element Analysis, it takes into account the deformability of soils and rocks with elastoplastic behavior, as well as all types of materials anisotropy and heterogeneity.
Furthermore, the strength reduction method can be applied to all materials whose strength criterion is defined by cohesion and friction angle, including soils and rocks, but also rock joints, contact surfaces and interfaces, such as the bolt-rock interface or segment interfaces in lined tunnels. This method can also be applied to fractured rock slopes and naturally takes into account reinforcements such as anchor bolts.
Finally, unlike the simplified limit equilibrium methods mentioned above, the SRM in Disroc is not limited to slopes and can also be applied to the stability analysis of other geotechnical projects, such as tunnel excavation in fractured soils or rocks, as illustrated in the following example.
Example: Safety Factor: Shear Strength Reduction Method
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