Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Determination of Critical Failure Surface of Slopes Using Particle Swarm Optimization Technique Considering Seepage and Seismic Loading

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Geotechnical and Geological Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Searching for critical failure surface (CFS) with minimum factor of safety (FOS) of any slope require application of optimization. A particle swarm optimization (PSO) based MATLAB code is developed to search for CFS and associated minimum FOS of slopes by minimizing the objective function. The FOS against slope failure is determined by Bishop’s method based on limit equilibrium technique, which also serves as the objective function. With this goal, another computer code is developed in MATLAB to solve non-linear nature of equation of FOS. The effectiveness of developed code is investigated through study of different parameters such as swarm size, iteration count and slice numbers etc. The applicability of PSO is evaluated for homogeneous and layered slopes considering the effect of seepage and seismic loading.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18
Fig. 19
Fig. 20
Fig. 21
Fig. 22
Fig. 23

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arai K, Tagyo K (1985) Determination of noncircular slip surfaces giving the minimum factor of safety in slope stability analysis. Soils Found 25(1):43–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker R (1980) Determination of the critical slip surface in slope stability computations. Int J Numer Anal Methods Geomech 4:333–359

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker R, Garber M (1978) Theoretical analysis of the stability of slopes. Geotechnique 28:341–395

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhattacharya RK, Satish MG (2007) Optimal design of a stable trapezoidal section using hybrid optimization techniques. J Irrig Drain Eng ASCE 1333(4):323–329

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop AW (1955) The use of slip circle in the stability analysis of slopes. Geotechnique 5(1):7–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop AW, Morgenstern N (1960) Stability coefficients for earth slopes. Geotechnique 10(4):164–169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Celestino TB, Duncan JM (1981) Simplified search for non-circular slip surface. In: Proceedings of 10th international conference on soil mechanics and foundation engineering. Stockholm Sweden, pp 391–394

  • Chen Z, Shao C (1983) Evaluation of minimum factor of safety in slope stability analysis. Can Geotech J 25(4):735–748

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheng YM, Liang L, Chi SC, Wei WB (2007a) Particle swarm optimization algorithm for location of the critical non circular failure surface in two-dimensional slope stability analysis. Comput Geotech 34(2):92–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheng YM, Liang L, Chi SC, Wei WB (2007b) Performance studies on six heuristic global optimization methods in the location of critical slip surface. Comput Geotech 34:462–484

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Childs EC, George CN (1950) The permeability of porous materials. Proc R Soc 201:392–405

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clerc M, Kennedy J (2002) The particle swarm-explosion, stability and convergence in a multidimensional complex space. IEEE Trans Evol Comput 6(1):58–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corps of Engineers (1970) Slope stability manual. EM 1110-2-1902. Washington DC Department of the Army Office of the Chief Engineers

  • Eberhart RC, Kennedy J (1995) A new optimizer using particle swarm theory. In: Proceedings of 6th symposium on micro machine and human science, Nagoya, Japan, pp 39–43

  • Eberhart RC, Shi Y (1998) Comparison between genetic algorithms and particle swarm optimization. In: Poroto Saravanam WN, Waagen D, Eiben AE (eds) Evolutionary programming VII Berlin, pp 611–616

  • Eberhart RC, Simpson P, Dobbins R (1996) Computational intelligence PC tools. Academic Press Professional, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Fellenius W (1936) Calculation of stability of earth dams. In: Proceedings of the second congress of large dams, vol 4, pp 445–463

  • Goh ATC (1999) Genetic algorithm based slope stability analysis using sliding wedge method. Can Geotech J 36:382–391

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goh ATC (2000) Search for critical slip circle using genetic algorithms. J Civ Eng Environ Syst 17(3):181–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greco VR (1996) Efficient Monte Carlo technique for locating critical slip surface. J Geotech Eng ASCE 122:517–525

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hajihassani M, Armaghani DJ, Kalatehjari R (2017) Applications of particle swarm optimization in geotechnical engineering: a comprehensive review. Geotech Geol Eng 36(2):705–722

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janbu N (1954) Applications of composite slip surfaces for stability analyses. In: Proceedings of the European conference on the stability of earth slopes, Stockholm, vol, 3, pp 39–43

  • Janbu N (1968) Slope stability computations. Soil mechanics and foundation engineering report. The Technical University of Norway, Trondheim, Norway

  • Kalatehjari R, Ali N, Ashrafi E (2011) Finding the critical slip surface of a soil slope with the aid of particle swarm optimization. In: Proceedings of 11th international multidisciplinary scientific geo conference, SGEM, Bulgaria, pp 459–466

  • Kalatehjari R, Ali N, Kholghifard M, Hajihassani M (2012) The application of particle swarm optimization in slope stability analysis of homogeneous soil slopes. Int Rev Model Simul 5(1):458–465

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy J, Eberhart RC (1995) Particle swarm optimization. In: Proceedings of the IEEE international conference on neural networks, Perth Australia, pp 1942–1948

  • Kumar DN, Reddy JM (2007) Multipurpose reservoir operation using particle swarm optimization. J Water Resour Plan Manag ASCE 133(3):192–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovbjerg M, Rasmussen TK, Krink T (2001) hybrid particle swarm optimizer with breeding subpopulations. In: Proceeding of the third genetic and evolutionary computation conference, San Francisco, pp 469–476

  • Lowe J, Karafaith L (1960) Stability of earth dams upon draw down. In: Proceedings 1st Pan-Am conference soil mechanics and foundation engineering, Mexico City, vol 2, pp 537–552

  • Lu ZS, Hou ZR, Du J (2006) Particle swarm optimization with adaptive mutation. Front Electr Electron Eng China 1(1):99–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malkawai AIH, Hassan WF, Sarma SK (2001) Global search method for locating general slip surface using Monte Carlo techniques. J Geotech Geo Environ Eng ASCE 127:688–698

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCombie PF, Wilkinson P (2002) The use of simple genetic algorithm in finding the critical factor of safety in slope stability analysis. Comput Geotech 29:699–714

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgenstern NR, Price VE (1965) The analysis of the stability of general slip surfaces. Geotechnique 15(1):79–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nguyen VU (1985) Determination of critical slope failure surfaces. J Geotech ASCE 111:238–250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ni Q, Deng J (2013) A new logistic dynamic particle swarm optimization algorithm based on rom topology. Sci World J. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/409167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parsopoulos KE, Vrahatis MN (2010) Particle swarm optimization and intelligence: advances and applications. Information science reference. Hershey, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Richards LA (1931) Capillary conduction of liquids through porous mediums. J Appl Phys 1:318

    Google Scholar 

  • Sabhahit N, Sreeja J, Madhav MR (2002) Genetic algorithm for searching critical slip surface. Indian Geotech J 32(2):86–101

    Google Scholar 

  • SEEP/W (2005) Seepage analyses software permitted for limited period of use by GeoSlope Office, Canada (lorin@geo-slope.com)

  • Segerlind LJ (1984) Applied finite element analysis. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Shi Y, Eberhart RC (1998a) A modified particle swarm optimizer. In: Proceedings of the IEEE international conference on evolutionary computation, Anchorage AK, USA, pp 69–73

  • Shi Y, Eberhart RC (1998b) Parameter selection in particle swarm optimization. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, London, vol 1447, pp 591–600

  • Smith IM, Griffiths DV, Margetts L (2013) Programming the finite element method, 5th edn. Wiley, Hoboken

    Google Scholar 

  • Spencer E (1967) A method of analysis of the stability of embankments assuming parallel inter-slice forces. Geotechnique 17(1):11–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamagami T, Ueta Y (1988) Search for noncircular slip surfaces by the Morgenstern–Price method. In: Proceedings of 6th international conference on numerical methods in geomechanics, pp 1219–1223

  • Zhang Y, Gallipoli D, Augarde C (2013a) Parameter identification for elasto-plastic modelling of unsaturated soils from pressure meter tests by parallel modified particle swarm optimization. Comput Geotech 48:293–303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Y, Xiong X, Zhang Q (2013b) An improved self-adaptive PSO algorithm with detection function for multimodal function optimization problems. Math Probl Eng. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/716952

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zolfaghari AR, Heath AC, McCombie PF (2005) Simple genetic algorithm search for critical non circular failure surface in slope stability analysis. Comput Geotech 32:139–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, NIT Patna, Patna, Bihar, India

    N. Himanshu & A. Burman

Authors
  1. N. Himanshu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. Burman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Burman.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Himanshu, N., Burman, A. Determination of Critical Failure Surface of Slopes Using Particle Swarm Optimization Technique Considering Seepage and Seismic Loading. Geotech Geol Eng 37, 1261–1281 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-018-0683-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-018-0683-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation