摘要(英) |
The impacts of
material spatial variability were usually not considered in traditional
slope stability analyses. However, most geotechnical materials are
usually not uniform inside a slope. Thus, traditional ways of analyses
were not very reasonable. On the other hand, most geological
explorations used vertical borings. Horizontal and inclined borings were
seldom performed unless required by the client. The information about
the spatial variability is hard to obtain and usually used the previous
studies to analyze. The objective of the study is to evaluate the impact
of spatial variability on slopes in soft rocks. To understand the
failure mechanisms, types of failures, and the size of the scale of
fluctuation, d, on the slope stability. The material properties of Eagle
Ford Shale from the canceled Superconducting Super Collider (SSC)
project in Texas, USA were used as the basis for the numerical analyses
using distinct element method based program, UDEC. The results of the
analyses could be used for prevention of slope failure, future support
system, and geotechnical exploration. The random field model is used
to obtain the material spatial variability. Monte Carlo simulation,
UDEC, and random field model are used to analyze the impact of material
variability and the slope stability. A series of numerical experiments
are performed to understand the effect of joint spacing, joint angle,
and size of scale fluctuation. Failure types and mechanisms are also
synthesized and evaluated. The following results can be obtained: (1)
The probabilities of failure are all very high as the slope close to the
unstable zone boundary. (2) As the horizontal size of d increased, the
probabilities of failure for the slopes with joints remains about the
same. However, for the slopes without joints, the probability of failure
increases as the d increases. (3) The joints may become a non-uniform
boundary for the weak materials to fail or shear as a slope becomes
unstable. Thus, the slopes with joints yield less failures as d
increases. Key word:Spatial Variability; Random Field Model; Weak
Rock; Monte Carol Simulation; UDEC |