Determination Method of Slip Surface of Reinforced Soil Slope Subjected to Seismic Load

In order to reasonably determinate the position of slip surface of a reinforced soil slope, a method, a horizontal slice method, was proposed for reinforced soil slopes subjected to seismic loads on the basis of the limit equilibrium theory. In this method, the slip surface is assumed to be a composite linear surface. The expression of reinforced soil tension, a multivariate function related to slip surface parameters, was derived based on the force equilibrium conditions of reinforced soil slopes, and solved with the software Mathematics to obtain the slip surface and the reinforced soil tension. In addition, slip surfaces obtained with the proposed method and the existing methods were compared to show its correctness. The research results show that the steeper the slope angle is, the closer the positions of potential slip surfaces based on the proposed method and the existing methods are. The slip surface moves outward constantly with the increases of internal friction angle and cohesion as well as with the reduction of horizontal seismic acceleration coefficient.