Potential Slip Surfaces of Slope with Strength Parameters

The cohesion c and friction angle φ are the main strength parameters influencing the stability of slope. Any of them changes, the factor of safety of slope will change, but it has seldom been considered in the literature how the potential slip surface will change at the same time. In the present paper, the analytical deduction and numerical analysis are done to find out the effect of shear strength parameters c and φ to the distribution of potential slip surface. The study shows that, the potential slip surface is affected by the combination of c and φ, whose function is λ=c/(γhtanφ).