Stability analysis of reinforced slopes considering progressive failure

A new procedure is presented for the stability analysis of reinforced slopes considering progressive failure based on the limit equilibrium concept. A local factor of safety is defined at the base of each slice to represent the progressive, local failure along a slip surface. An optimization approach is contrived to determine tensile resistances of reinforcement elements at an inception of failure of reinforced zones. This approach can be used for practical design of reinforced slopes to produce reasonable arrangement of reinforcements and to determine required available tensile strengths of reinforcing materials. Finally, the method is applied to a simple example to demonstrate its effectiveness, and the results obtained are discussed to provide guidelines for practical designs of reinforced slopes using the method.