An Improved Search Strategy for the Critical Slip Surface

using Finite Element Stress Fields

J. Y. Kim & S. R. Lee
Department of Civil Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology,
Taejon 305-701, Korea
(Received 2 April 1997; revised version received 18 August 1997; accepted 26 August 1997)
ABSTRACT
The nite element method can be used to advantage in slope stability prob-
lems. This paper proposes a technique to search for the critical slip surface
as well as to dene and calculate the factor of safety for the slope, when the
nite element method is used to model its formation. First, stresses are
estimated at each Gaussian point from the nite element analysis. Then, the
global stress smoothing method is applied to get a continuous stress eld.
Based on this stress eld, the factor of safety is calculated for a specied
slip surface by a stress integration scheme. An improved search strategy is
proposed for a noncircular critical surface which starts with a search
method for a circular critical surface. During the search process, points
dening a trial slip surface can freely move in the nite element mesh sub-
ject to some kinematical constraints. This method can be applied to both
the limit equilibrium method and the nite element method. Eects of the
slope stress history and soil parameters on the resulting critical surface are
investigated. # 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
INTRODUCTION
Conventional methods of slope analysis based on the concept of limit equi-
librium have been widely adopted mainly due to their simplicity and applic-
ability. Although these conventional methods are straightforward, they may
not give reliable and convincing results if nonhomogeneous and anisotropic
stratications are considered. They do not take into account the type of
slope history (natural, excavation or embankment), nor the initial state of
stress before excavation or ll placement.
Computers and Geotechnics, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 295313, 1997
# 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
Printed in Great Britain
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295
The nite element method, on the other hand, has been used for the analysis
of deformation and stress distribution. In contrast to the simplied techni-
ques, the nite element approach can deal with a complex loading sequence
and the growth of inelastic zone with time, i.e. the progressive nature of the
failure. Only a few attempts have been conducted to evaluate slope stability
by the nite element method.
In general, the slope stability analysis consists of the following two steps.
The rst step is to calculate a factor of safety for a specied slip surface. The
next step is to nd a critical surface which is associated with the minimum
factor of safety. The factor of safety resulting from the limit equilibrium
method is not uniquely determined. It varies with the assumption made in
the analysis because of the indeterminate characteristics of the method.
Donald and Giam [1] presented a simple method to determine the factor of
safety, using nodal displacements obtained from the nite element method.
Matsui and San [2] and Deschamps and Leonard [3] dened the global factor
of safety as the average value of local safety factors along a specied slip
surface. In these studies, the local safety factors are dened as positive scalar
values. Therefore, they give a nite value for the global factor of safety for
at ground in which the stress does not vary horizontally, while the limit
equilibrium method gives an innite value.
Yamagami and Ueta [4], Zou et al. [5] and others dened the global factor
of safety as the ratio of the total shear strength to the mobilized shear stress
for a specied slip surface. They used the MohrCoulomb failure criterion
for the shear strength. Yamagami and Ueta [6, 7] also computed the factor of
safety from smoothed stress elds obtained by the stress averaging technique.
Huang and Yamasaki [8] developed a slope stability analysis method by
applying a local minimum factor of safety approach.
To search for the critical surface which is associated with the minimum
safety factor, many optimization techniques have been applied. Baker [9]
developed a dynamic programming method coupled with Spencer's limit
equilibrium method. Celestino and Duncan [10] utilized the alternative vari-
able method. Nguyen [11], Bardet and Kapuskar [12], and De Natale [13]
employed the simplex method which can be readily incorporated into any
existing slope stability program on the basis of the limit equilibrium method.
Chen and Shao [14] proposed the utilization of the steepest descent method,
and the DavidonFletcherPowell (DFP) method which requires derivatives
of the safety factor, especially when the degrees of freedom increase. The
Monte Carlo technique was employed by Greco [15] and the quality of the
results of the analysis was compared with those of other nonlinear pro-
gramming methods.
The search techniques for the critical slip surface using stress elds
obtained from the nite element method can be divided into the strain (or
296 J. Y. Kim and S. R. Lee
displacement) method and the stress method. Matsui and San [16] have
developed a shear strength reduction technique which requires repetitive
nite element analyses. The critical surface is determined from the distribu-
tion of shear strains near the failure stress state. This search method is con-
ceptually dierent from that which searches for the critical surface associated
with the minimum safety factor. The existence of some slip surfaces that have
smaller values of the safety factor is possible in the shear strength reduction
method. Zou et al. [5] employed an improved dynamic programming method
(DPM) to search for the critical slip surface. Similar to the method proposed
by Baker [9] which adopted DPM, the improved DPM requires the denition
of a grid of state points.
In this paper, an improved strategy for searching for the critical surface is
developed on the basis of the stress eld. This method can be applicable to
both the limit equilibrium method and the nite element method. A more
rigorous integration scheme is used for the calculation of the factor of safety
for a specied slip surface. The stress eld is obtained by the nite element
method and is smoothed by the global stress smoothing method. The eects
of slope stress history and model parameters on the location of the critical
surface and the factor of safety are investigated.
EVALUATION OF THE FACTOR OF SAFETY
Denition of the factor of safety
The global safety factor, F
s
, can be dened as
F
s
=

I
t
l
oI

I
t
i
oI
(1)
where t
i
is the mobilized shear stress at any point along the slip surface, t
l
is
the shear strength at the corresponding point, and I is the length of the slip
surface.
The mobilized shear stress t
i
and the shear strength t
l
can be calculated
from the stress eld which has been obtained by the nite element analysis.
t
l
= c o
n
lan
t
i
= 0.5(o
y
o
x
) sin2o t
xy
cos 2o
o
n
= o
x
sin
2
o o
y
cos
2
o t
xy
sin 2o
(2)
An improved search strategy for the critical slip surface 297
where c is the cohesion of a material, is the friction angle of a material, o
n
is
the stress acting normal to a specied slip surface, o is the angle of slip surface
to the horizontal plane, and o
x
, o
y
, t
xy
are the stresses on the slip surface.
As represented in Eqn (1), the line integral of stress along a slip surface is
required to calculate the factor of safety. During the elasto-plastic nite ele-
ment analysis, stresses are computed at Gaussian integration points in each
element by dierentiating the displacement solution and using the appro-
priate constitutive relations. This direct calculation of stress integral results
in discontinuous stresses with lower accuracy at the boundary of the ele-
ments. To overcome this deciency, the global stress smoothing method [7],
the superconvergent patch recovery method [17] and other methods have
been proposed. In this study, the global stress smoothing technique is adop-
ted because of the simplicity in its implementation.
The stress at any point within an element is dened by using the displace-
ment interpolation functions as in the following Eqn (3).
o =

nn
a=1
N
a
o
nooe
a
(3)
where nn is the number of nodes in the element, N
a
is a shape function about
a nodal point a, and o
nooe
a
is the smoothed nodal stress.
The stress integration for a slip line can be transformed from a two
dimensional global coordinate system into a one-dimensional local coordi-
nate system [Fig. 1(a) and (b)]:

p
2
p
1
t(x. y)oI =
L
2

1
1
t(p(s))os (4)
where
t = shear stress or shear strength which is calculated from Eqns (2)
and (3),
Fig. 1. Slip surface within an element.
298 J. Y. Kim and S. R. Lee
p(s) =
p
2
p
1
2
s
p
2
p
1
2
loi 1 _ s _ 1,
s = variable in a one dimensional local coordinate system,
p
1
, p
2
= intersection point vectors between the boundary of an element
and a slip surface in global coordinate system (p
1
= (x
1
. y
1
)
T
,
p
2
= (x
2
. y
2
)
T
),
oI =(| p
2
p
1
| ,2)os = (L,2)os,
L = the length of line segment within an element.
Equation (4) can be approximately computed by means of numerical inte-
gration formula as follows:

1
1
t(p(s))os ~

n
inl
i=1
t(p(s
i
))W
i
(5)
where n
inl
is the number of integration points in local coordinate system, s
i
is
the local coordinate of the ith integration point, and W
i
is the weight value
of the ith integration point. The stress t(p(s
i
)) at the integration point s
i
is
calculated by using Eqn (3).
In the case of Fig. 1(c), in which two line segments of slip surface are
included in an element, the stress integration consists of two parts, respec-
tively representing for each line segment.

p
2
p
1
t(x. y)oI =

p
3
p
1
t(x. y)oI

p
2
p
3
t(x. y)oI (6)
The stress integration scheme used in this study is similar to that of
Yamagami and Ueta [4]. Because they use a dynamic programming method
to search for the critical surface, points on the slip surface can move only on
the grid of state points that overlaps the potential slip region. Here, the
points can move freely within the nite element mesh.
The proposed procedure for computing the factor of safety is shown in the
owchart of Fig. 2. During the procedure of calculating the global safety
factor, a search process to look for the next element intersected by the slip
surface from the current element is required. To save search time, informa-
tion about surrounding elements is obtained at the start for each element and
stored in the computer memory. The next step is to search for the rst ele-
ment which includes the starting point of a slip surface as shown in Fig. 3.
Then the process of stress integration along the line segments within an
element level is carried out.
An improved search strategy for the critical slip surface 299
SEARCH FOR THE CRITICAL SLIP SURFACE
The general nonlinear programming problem can be written as follows:
min F(x) (7)
suLjecl lo G
i
(x) _ 0 loi i = 1. . . . . n (8)
H
j
(x) = 0 loij = 1. . . . . m (9)
x
IB
L
_ x
L
_ x
\B
L
loi k = 1. . . . . l (10)
Fig. 2. Procedure of evaluating the factor of safety.
300 J. Y. Kim and S. R. Lee
where x = (x
1
. x
2
. . . . . x

) is a variable vector of dimension p, G

i
(x) is an
inequality constraint function, H
j
(x) is an equality constraint function, and
x
IB
L
, x
\B
L
are respectively the smallest and the largest values of the kth vari-
able x
L
. The bound constraints of Eqn (10) are quite simple and easy to treat
in the actual numerical implementations.
In the problem of nding the critical slip surface, the objective function is
dened as the factor of safety and its variables are the coordinates which
describe the geometry of a slip surface. Here, the variables x are called shape
variables. Dierent types of the optimization problem are formulated for
circular and noncircular slip surfaces by using Eqns (7)(10).
Equation (7) can be changed as follows to search for the critical surface of
a circular slip:
min
suilace
F
s
(x
c
. y
c
. x
1
) (11)
where
x
c
and y
c
: x and y-coordinates of the center of the circle [Fig. 4(a)],
x
1
: x-coordinate of the starting point for the slip surface,
F
s
: the objective function (the factor of safety).
Though a circular trial slip surface can be described as a function of three
shape variables (x
c
. y
c
. x
1
), it could be dened as a series of straight seg-
ments. The location of the segment vertices is determined by shape variables
and by the location of a hard stratum into which the slip surface cannot
penetrate. The treatment for circular slip surface is very simple because there
are only three location parameters. Equation (11) is a type of unconstrained
optimization problem which has no equality or inequality conditions. To
solve this problem, a variety of optimization techniques can be applied, such
as Simplex method, DFP method and BFGS method. The BFGS method,
Fig. 3. Slip surface and the rst nite element.
An improved search strategy for the critical slip surface 301
which is widely acknowledged to be more ecient, is applied in this study to
search for the critical circular slip surface. This method requires the evalua-
tion of the sensitivity which is the derivative of the objective function with
respect to the shape variables.
The sensitivity of the objective function cannot be analytically obtained
due to the complexity of the function. Therefore, the nite dierence method
is used to numerically obtain an approximate sensitivity as follows:
oF
s
ox
i
~
LF
s
Lx
i
=
F
s
(x
i
o) F
s
(x
i
)
o
(12)
where o is the value of a nite dierence step and x
i
are shape variables.
The noncircular slip surface is generated by a series of straight lines of
which the vertices are considered as shape variables.
min
suilace
F
s
(x) (13)
suLjecl lo y
IB
i
_ y
i
_ y
\B
i
loi i = 2. . . . . n 2 (14)
G
j
(x
j
. x
j1
) = x
j
x
j1
L _ 0 loi j = 1. . . . . n 1 (15)

IB
L
_
L
(x
L1
. x
L
. x
L1
. y
L1
. y
L
. y
L1
) _
\B
L
loi k = 2. . . . . n 2 (16)
Fig. 4. Shape variables.
302 J. Y. Kim and S. R. Lee
where
x = shape variable vector (x
1
. . . . . x
n
. y
2
. . . . . y
n1
).
y
\B
= upper bound value of y-coordinate determined by the slope
geometry,
y
IB
= lower bound value of y-coordinate determined by the loca-
tion of rm block,
L = arbitrary small positive real number in order to prevent a slip
line segment becoming too narrow,

L
= angle between adjacent slip lines for kth vertex,

IB
L
.
\B
L
= lower and upper bound on
L
, respectively,
n = the number of vertices.
If the slip surface consists of N vertices, the number of shape variables is
2N2 excluding the y-coordinates of the extreme points. Equation (15)
guarantees that the x-coordinates of vertices are in the correct sequence. A
well-trained geotechnical engineer can, if necessary, control the shape of the
critical slip surface using Eqn (16) since the proposed stability method is
based only on the stress elds obtained from the nite element method. In
fact, this constraint equation has little inuence on the results for normal
cases. To solve the constrained optimization problem, the feasible direction
method [18], moving from a feasible point to an improved feasible point
along the feasible direction, is used. This method requires not only the
evaluation of the gradient of the objective function but also the evaluation of
the gradient of the constraint equations. Both values are computed by the
nite dierence method of Eqn (12).
OPTIMIZATION STRATEGY
Poor results frequently occur when a relatively large number of variables are
used in an initial guess. The use of a small number of shape variables for a
trial slip surface reduces a chance for interferences among them so that the
kinematical constraints are seldom invoked. On the other hand, the use of a
large number of variables makes the slip surface be smooth. To circumvent
the contradictory status, Li and White [19] and Greco [15] proposed a
method starting with a few shape variables. Then, new vertices are succes-
sively introduced at midpoints of straight lines joining adjacent vertices, and
a new search starts with the assumption that the critical slip surface in the
previous search step be the trial slip surface for the next.
In this study, a reasonable optimization strategy is established as follows:
Step 1: First of all, choose an initial slip surface. A displacement diagram
and stress ratio contour plot obtained from the results of a nite element
An improved search strategy for the critical slip surface 303
analysis could be helpful in selecting some appropriate initial circular slip
surfaces. The initial slip surface is dened by N-vertices.
Step 2: A circular critical surface which has only three variables is deter-
mined by the optimization technique for the initial slip surface.
Step 3: The critical slip surface is then assumed as the initial slip surface in
searching for the noncircular critical slip surface. Here, the number of vari-
ables is 2N2 with N-vertices.
Step 4: After new vertices are generated at the midpoints of the straight
line segments joining adjacent vertices, the same search method used in step
3 is repeated. Here, the number of vertices is 2N1.
Step 5: Repeat step 4 until enough vertices to describe an acceptably
smooth slip surface are obtained.
Step 6: If there is another assumed initial slip surface go to step 2; other-
wise, determine the overall critical slip surface associated with the minimum
safety factor.
APPLICATION
The proposed slope stability evaluation method was applied to both exca-
vated slopes and the slopes of homogeneous embankments. The slope stability
analysis for an actual test embankment on soft clay was also conducted. The
nite element simulation technique for excavations guarantees the unique-
ness of solution for a linear elastic material. Lee et al. [20] extended the
algorithm for inelastic material cases.
Homogenous slope examples
The proposed method was applied to an excavated slope problem. A homo-
geneous dry soil slope which has the unit weight of 20.0 kNm
3
, Young's
modulus of 15.0 MPa, and Poisson's ratio of 0.3 was considered. The Mohr
Coulomb yield criterion was used with the associative ow rule. The
strength parameters were assumed to be a cohesion of 5 kPa and the friction
angle of 35

.
The number of slip vertices and the number of shape variables at each
optimization step are summarized in Table 1. The low bound angle (
LB
) and
upper bound angle (
UB
) of adjacent slip lines are assumed to be 90

and
190

. In fact, these constraint conditions have few eects on the results but
they guarantee the geometrical admissibility of the slip surface obtained
during the search algorithm.
Figure 5 shows the optimization steps for each initial slip surface in an
excavated slope. The greatest drop in the safety factor and the largest
304 J. Y. Kim and S. R. Lee
movement of a trial slip surface occurred in the search step for the circular
critical slip surface. It is due to the use of relatively few variables. The more
the number of variables, the smoother the slip surface.
Figure 6(a) and (b) shows the noncircular critical slip surfaces with 13
vertices for each initial slip surface for a 2:1 slope and Fig. 6(c) and (d) shows
the noncircular critical slip surfaces for a 1:1 slope with dierent shear
strength parameters. There is a range of locations around the most critical
slip surface called the ``critical band'' by Li and White [18].
For the purpose of comparison with the limit equilibrium method, the
slope stability analyses for the various strength parameters were conducted
using Spencer's method and Bishop's method. For the computation of the
minimum safety factor by Spencer's method, the proposed search optimiza-
tion strategy was also applied in the same way. The search pattern method
was employed in the Bishop method to compare the locations of the slip
surfaces in slopes. The safety factors and the locations of critical surfaces are
TABLE 1
Optimization step and the number of shape variables
Step no. Optimization step Number of
vertices
Number of
shape variables
1 Initial surface 4 3
2 Circular critical slip surface 4 3
3 Noncircular critical slip surface I 4 6
4 Noncircular critical slip surface II 7 12
5 Noncircular critical slip surface III 13 22
Fig. 5. Optimization process for each initial slip surface (c = 5 LPa. = 35

).
An improved search strategy for the critical slip surface 305
Fig. 6. Critical slip surfaces for each initial slip surface.
Fig. 7. Comparison with limit equilibrium method in 2:1 slopes.
306 J. Y. Kim and S. R. Lee
in good agreement with limit equilibrium methods as shown in Figs 7 and 8.
The eect of the dierent stress histories in the excavation and embankment
simulations is not signicant in this example.
To describe the stressstrain relationship in an elastic stress range, the
values of Poisson's ratio (v) and Young's modulus (E) are required. It is well
known for soil to show nonlinear stressstress relationship until Mohr
Coulomb's yield criteria. In present analysis, however, the soil was modelled
as an isotropic material, characterized by linear elastic behavior until yield
criteria. Figure 9 shows that the computed factor of safety and the location
of the critical surface is not signicantly aected by variation in either v or E
for the homogeneous excavated slope because the factor of safety is mainly
dependent upon the stress elds.
Stability analysis for an actual embankment on soft clay
In this section, the stability of an trial embankment in the Muar Flats site
in Malaysia is studied. The Malaysian Highway Authority selected an
Fig. 8. Comparison with limit equilibrium method in 1:1 slopes.
An improved search strategy for the critical slip surface 307
appropriate site to construct several full-scale test embankments, with one
built to failure. The embankment raised on this soft Muar clay failed at a
height of approximately 5.5 m. The simplied ground prole and soil
description at the site of the test embankment are given in Fig. 10(a).
The FE discretization of the test embankment and its foundation is shown
in Fig. 10(b). The clay foundation is divided into seven horizontal layers of 8
noded nite elements with characteristic properties of the dierent soil
deposits. Undrained analysis were carried out in terms of total stress. The
values of the soil parameters employed in the analysis are summarized in
Table 2. The undrained modulus (E
u
) and undrained strength were deter-
mined from the appropriate triaxial tests and eld vane parameters [21, 22].
The corrected undrained strength using Bjerrum's correction factor were also
used in the analysis. For the compacted ll material (E = 5, 100 kPa, v = 0.3,
, = 20.5 L m
3
), the shear resistance (c=19 kPa, and = 26

) was
obtained from laboratory tests [22].
Three initial circular slip surfaces as shown in Fig. 11 were assumed, based
on the displacement diagram and the shear stress ratio contours. The number
Fig. 9. Stability analysis with variations of elastic parameters (c = 5 LPa. = 30

)
308 J. Y. Kim and S. R. Lee
of initial vertices is selected as seven by considering the various soil layers.
The noncircular critical surfaces of each initial surface were obtained by the
proposed optimization strategy. Figure 12 shows the critical surfaces for
each initial slip surface. Figure 13 indicates the comparison of the present
TABLE 2
Variation of shear strength and deformation parameters
Depth (m) E
u
(kPa) Uncorrected undrained
strength (kPa)
Corrected undrained
strength (kPa)
, (kNm
3
)
0~2 25,500 23.0 19.1 16.5
2~5 6600 11.5 9.9 15.5
5~8 8933 14.0 11.2 15.5
8~11 9120 18.0 14.4 15.5
11~14 6593 24.0 21.1 15.5
14~18 5884 30.0 24 15.5
18~22.5 5884 35.0 28 16.0
Fig. 10. Simplied soil prole and nite element mesh.
An improved search strategy for the critical slip surface 309
results with conventional limit equilibrium solutions from the independent
studies. In this study it can be observed that, although the calculated failure
height of the embankment is dierent from the actual failure height, the
proposed method provides a better agreement with the actual slip surface
compared with the other predictions.
Fig. 11. Three initial circular slip surfaces and element mesh.
Fig. 12. Critical slip surfaces and factor of safety for each initial surface.
310 J. Y. Kim and S. R. Lee
CONCLUSION
In this study, an analysis method for slope stability evaluation which utilizes
stress elds obtained by the nite element analysis is proposed. The factor of
safety and the critical surface are the basic results for the stability analysis.
The global factor of safety is dened as the mobilized shear stress divided by
the shear strength, both integrated along the slip surface. The global stress
smoothing technique is adopted to obtain continuous stress elds.
An optimization algorithm is used to obtain the critical surface. A rea-
sonable optimization strategy is proposed on the basis of the BFGS and the
feasible direction method. The proposed search method for the critical sur-
face can be applied to both the nite element method and the limit equi-
librium method. The results obtained by the proposed method are in good
agreement with the limit equilibrium solutions for homogenous slopes. In the
actual embankment failure application, the location of the critical surface is
in better agreement with the actual failure surface although the failure height
of embankment is underestimated.
In future study, the present method of using nite element stress elds can
be extended to deal with the stability of complex geotechnical structures (soil
nailed walls, reinforced walls with anchor, etc.) and elaborated stressstrain
relationships (creep behavior, anisotropic elastic behavior, nonlinear elastic
stressstrain relationship, etc.).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Support for this study by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation
(Project No. 95-0600-01-02-3) is gratefully acknowledged.
Fig. 13. Actual and predicted failure surfaces.
An improved search strategy for the critical slip surface 311
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