Assessing the Reliability of Rock Slopes Based on the Nonlinear Strength Criterion

Abstract

Traditionally, the reliability of a rock slope is evaluated based on the linear Mohr–Coulomb strength criterion, neglecting the nonlinear shear strength of the majority of geotechnical materials. The paper proposes a probability method to assess the reliability of rock slopes based on the power-type nonlinear strength criterion and the mean-value first-order second-moment method. In the proposed method, a novel analytical method to determine the safety factors of slopes with plane failure is derived based on the power-type nonlinear strength criterion. The local mean value of a random variable on the failure surface is determined based on the two-dimensional random field theory, avoiding the random field simulation. To quickly search the minimum reliability index βmin, a dichotomic search method is proposed. The validity of the proposed method is demonstrated in two cases. The study results from the two cases illustrate that the proposed method has high computational efficiency and accuracy. The proposed method offers a fresh way to examine the reliability of rock slopes when the nonlinear strength criterion is adopted.