Topic
Factor of safety
About: Factor of safety is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1929 publications have been published within this topic receiving 29906 citations. The topic is also known as: margin of safety & safety margin.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compared the performance of the shear strength reduction technique with the method of slices for a homogeneous embankment and showed that the latter is more accurate than the former.
Abstract: INTRODUCTION For slopes, the factor of safety F is traditionally de®ned as the ratio of the actual soil shear strength to the minimum shear strength required to prevent failure (Bishop, 1955). As Duncan (1996) points out, F is the factor by which the soil shear strength must be divided to bring the slope to the verge of failure. Since it is de®ned as a shear strength reduction factor, an obvious way of computing F with a ®nite element or ®nite difference program is simply to reduce the soil shear strength until collapse occurs. The resulting factor of safety is the ratio of the soil's actual shear strength to the reduced shear strength at failure. This `shear strength reduction technique' was used as early as 1975 by Zienkiewicz et al. (1975), and has since been applied by Naylor (1982), Donald & Giam (1988), Matsui & San (1992), Ugai (1989), Ugai & Leshchinsky (1995) and others. The shear strength reduction technique has a number of advantages over the method of slices for slope stability analysis. Most importantly, the critical failure surface is found automatically. Application of the technique has been limited in the past due to the long computer run times required. But with the increasing speed of desktop computers, the technique is becoming a reasonable alternative to the method of slices, and is being used increasingly in engineering practice. However, there has been little investigation of the accuracy of the technique. In this paper, factors of safety obtained with the shear strength reduction technique are compared to limit analysis solutions for a homogeneous embankment.
938 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a simple but accurate method of stability analysis of embankments and slopes is developed to determine the critical earthquake acceleration that is required to bring a mass of soil, bounded by a slip line of any shape and the free surface, to a state of limiting equilibrium.
Abstract: A simple but accurate method of stability analysis of embankments and slopes is developed to determine the critical earthquake acceleration that is required to bring a mass of soil, bounded by a slip line of any shape and the free surface, to a state of limiting equilibrium. At the same time, the usual factor of safety can be determined. It is based on the principle of limiting equilibrium and the method of slices. Effective stress strength parameters are used. A distribution of internal body forces is found based on a simple assumption. This depends on the geometry of the dam and the sliding surface as well as on the strength of the material. Though a computer is used for the calculations presented in the Paper, it is not essential. As in any solution, the physical acceptability of the complete solution must be checked before accepting the result. It is suggested to use the critical acceleration as a measure of the factors of safety. On a mis au point une methode simple mais precise pour l'analyse de la ...
531 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a family of curves was established in which the volumetric strain resulting from dissipation of pore water pressures is correlated with the density of sand and conventionally used factor of safety against liquefaction.
517 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare six methods of slices commonly used for slope stability analysis, and compare them with the factor of safety equations written in the same form, recognizing whether moment and (or) force equilibri...
Abstract: The paper compares six methods of slices commonly used for slope stability analysis. The factor of safety equations are written in the same form, recognizing whether moment and (or) force equilibri...
505 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the impact of uncertainty on the reliability of slope design and performance assessment is discussed, and it is shown that conventional slope practice based on the factor of safety cannot explicitly address uncertainty.
Abstract: The impact of uncertainty on the reliability of slope design and performance assessment is often significant. Conventional slope practice based on the factor of safety cannot explicitly address unc...
486 citations