Stability Analysis of Embankment Based on Shear Strength Reduction Elasto-plastic FEM

Based on the large finite element software ABAQUS, an elasto-plastic finite element analysis £¨FEA£© model for slope stability was built to automatically search for safety factor and corresponding failure mechanism. The instability criterion based on iteration non-convergence of numerical computation was adopted, and stability of embankment slope was carried out by numerical computations with changing parameters and comparative analysis. Furthermore, the stability of multi-stage embankment and slope embankment under surcharge was numerically analyzed by using the non-convergence criterion. Results show that stability of embankment under surcharge remarkably decreases, but the failure mode is still symmetrical sliding failure. The instability criterion of iteration non-convergence of finite element numerical solution is suitable for stability analysis of embankment under surcharge and multi-stage embankment.