Stability analysis of seismically induced landslide using coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian finite element analysis

Abstract

In this paper, a numerical analysis was executed to understand the essential features of seismically triggered landslide and the resulting failure mass flow. Since landslide-related problems involve large strains and displacements, the conventional Lagrangian Finite Element Method (LFEM) is unable to simulate such event appropriately. To overcome this issue, the Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian (CEL) technique was adopted using the finite element-based computer program ABAQUS/Explicit. The geometry of an existing hill slope in Kerala, India, was considered for the analysis. The Lagrangian description was specified to the rock base, while the Eulerian description was used in the case of sliding soil mass. The pseudo-static loading was applied to analyze the behavior of the slope during and after seismic activity. Finally, seismic stability analysis was conducted for the same slope considering traditional LFEM. Results showed that the post-failure behavior of the slope obtained from CEL based finite element method is in good agreement with the conventional LFEM.