Progressive failure in slopes stability: Use of a non-local approach

In the stability analysis of earth slopes the simple computational methods, referred to the classical limit equilibrium approach, are not able to predict complex processes as progressive failure. Such a phenomenon can be studied only using procedures that are able to simulate the formation and development of a shear band in which plastic strains localise. From a computational point of view, this presents many problems, because the numerical analyses, carried out with local elasto-plastic models, are affected by a lack of convergence and the solution depends strongly on the mesh adopted. For this purpose, a non-local elasto-viscoplastic model, implemented in the finite element code TOCHNOG, is proposed in this book. In order to assess the validation of the model, two ideal examples are analysed: a plane strain compression test and a stability analysis of a slope with a given groundwater level. The proposed approach allows to overcome the problems of the local elasto-plastic models and, therefore, it can represent an useful analysis tool of progressive failure for the geotechnical engineers.