Stability charts for determining safety factors of 3D homogeneous slopes

Stability charts provide a simple and effective way to evaluate the preliminary slope stability analysis. Using the strength reduction FEM based on field variable, a series of stability charts are proposed to determine factors of safety for 3D homogeneous slopes. With the second development platform UFIELD program of ABAQUS, the cohesions and internal friction angles of rock and soil mass are assigned as functions of field variables. The field variables are assigned as a function of step time t, the cohesions and internal friction angles can be reduced with the increase of t, and the safety factor of slopes can be obtained in a single simulation process, which avoids modifying of the input files and without repeating the trial calculation. Based on three typical slope examples, the reliability of this method is validated. The computational efficiency is compared through analysis. The results show that the safety factor obtained by this method is effective and reliable. The computational efficiency is improved. In addition, the proposed stability charts for 3D homogeneous slopes based on the proposed method are feasible and reliable to rapidly obtain the safety factors, designed slope angles and strength indexes for soils of sliding zone.