Proceedings of the 6th International Young Geotechnical Engineers’ Conference (iYGEC6)

The Material Point Method in slope stability analysis

La Methode du Point Matériel en la estabilité des pentes

Francesc Mirada
Infrastructures London Group, Arup, United Kingdom, francesc.mirada@arup.com

ABSTRACT: The material point method (MPM) is an advanced particle-based method that combines Eulerian and Lagrangian
descriptions of the media to describe the dynamic behaviour of the continuum. The novelty of the method is the capability to deal
with large deformations avoiding problems of mesh tangling typical from finite elements. MPM has a good potential to examine the
conditions leading to slope failure but, also, it is capable of following in time the evolution of the unstable mass determining its final
run-out, which is a key variable to evaluate the consequences of instability. In this work, the MPM is used to analyse the Selborne
experiment, which was a landslide induced by water recharge in saturated soils. Excavation is simulated and results show the
evolution of a progressive failure and final displacements similar to those observed in the field. Moreover, using the same geometry
and material properties of the Selborne experiment a parametric study is performed to understand the influence of the initial
stresses on the generated slip surface and the post-failure behaviour. The Mohr-Coulomb strain softening model is used to simulate
the soil brittleness. This work contributes to the validation of the method and proves its functionality by modelling a real slope failure.

Coulomb constitutive law presented in Yerro et al. (2014) is

1 INTRODUCTION considered to model the brittle behaviour of the
overconsolidated clay.
One of the challenges to study geotechnical problems such as
landslides, pile penetration, or tunnel collapses is to deal with
large deformations and large movements of soil masses. The
Material Point Method (MPM) (Sulsky et al., 1994; Sulsky and
Schreyer 1994) is an advanced numerical technique that
combines advantages of both, Eulerian and Lagrangian
descriptions to tackle large deformation problems. In this
manner, mesh distortion typical from classical Finite Elements
is avoided. Figure 1. Used mesh for the calculations
In landslide analysis, to predict the character of the failure
and give a quantitative estimation of the post failure behaviour
including the travel distance (run-out) and the velocity is In the calculation procedure, firstly the stresses in the soil
essential for risk assessment. are initialised with a K0 value of 2 with a horizontal surface.
In this work, the MPM is used to analyse the Selborne Then the excavation of the material is done by removing layers
experiment. The software used is a version of Anura3D of 1.5m height to generate the slope configuration. After that,
(www.anura3D.com) and a MPM hydromechanical fully the pore water increase is initialised.
coupled dynamic formulation (Jassim, 2013) has been
considered. 4 RESULTS

2 THE SELBORNE EXPERIMENT
The Selborne landslide (Cooper, 1996) consisted of a deep cut
slope in Gault Clay which was induced to failure by a pore
pressure increase. The main goal of the experiment was to study
the progressive failure mechanism in overconsolidated clay. For
that reason, the site was extensively instrumented by means of
piezometers, inclinometers and surface wire extensometer lines.
Field sighting and measurements are reported in Cooper (1996),
Grant (1996), and Cooper et al. (1998).
In Figure 2 the slip surface obtained in this analysis considering
the excavation process is compared with the one observed in the
field, and the one obtained in previous works in which the
excavation process was not simulated (Yerro et al., 2015; Soga
et al., 2016). It is shown that considering the initialisation of
stresses with a more realistic K0, and the modelling of the
excavation process the slip failure fits much better the real
failure mechanism.

3 THE MPM MODEL

The novelty of this work is that the slope cutting process is

incorporated in the modelling. The effect of the initial stress
field, essential to reproduce the failure progression more
accurately, is analysed. Initially, according to the data observed
in field a K0 value of 2 is taken to generate the initial stresses.
The material parameters are chosen according to field data and
water recharge was modelled in agreement with piezometer’s
measurements.
The simplified geometry of the Selborne experiment consists
on a slope of 9 m high and 63º steep. A computational mesh
consisting of tetrahedral elements with 4 material points is used
for the computation (Figure 1). The strain softening Mohr-
Figure 2. Real slip surface and numerical simulation slip surfaces.
Following the idea of Skempton (1964), the concept of the
progressive failure has been studied quantitatively with the
mobilised shear strength concept introduced in Yerro et al.
(2014) which is a measure of the intensity of shear in a certain
point.
Results show that the first area to reach the peak strength
values is the toe of the slope, even before the beginning of the
 Proceedings of the 6th International Young Geotechnical Engineers’ Conference (iYGEC6)
pore pressure increase, due to the excavation effect. Afterwards,
when the pore pressure surcharge initiates, the crest area of the
slope plastifies and the failure propagates towards the centre of
the slope. Finally, the progressive failure is extended to the
centre of the slope and the global failure occurs. Those three
phases of the progressive failure matches the real results
observed in the site.
5 INFLUENCE OF THE INITIAL STRESSES
Using the same geometry and material properties of the
Selborne experiment a parametric study of the K0 values has
been performed to understand the influence of the initial
stresses on the slip surface geometry and the post-failure
behaviour.
5 .1 Slip surfaces
In Figure 3, shear bands observed for all unstable cases are
presented. It can be observed that whereas K0 is increased the
slip surface is deeper in the crest of the slope.
Note that the slip surface when K0=1 is not represented in
Figure 3 because the slope remains stable for this configuration.
The reason is that a K0 value of 1 locates the stress state of the
material points in the isotropic axis of the p’-q plane, and then a
higher deviatoric stress is required in order to cause the failure.
The pore pressure increase applied in this analysis (110 kPa) is
not enough to trigger the failure.
Figure 3. Slip surfaces superposition for different K0.
5 .2 Kinematic effect
The final horizontal displacements field for each K0 value are
represented in Figure 4 (note the different scales). It can be
observed that if the instability occurs, as the K0 value of the soil
increases the final run-out of the soil mass decreases. The run-
out for the non-excavated case is the largest one.
Figure 4. Horizontal displacements field different K0 values
It is important to note that for lower K0 values a rapid
increase of the velocity is observed and then stabilised whereas
for higher K0 values the process is affected by a stability-
reactivation effect where subsequent instabilities stages occur.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Within this work, the Selborne cutting experiment has been
modelled using MPM. The numerical results show that the
initial failure mechanism obtained in this analysis is much more
similar to the real one than the one presented in previous works.
Additionally, using the same geometry, loading conditions
and material parameters, an extended parametric analysis has
been carried out in order to study the influence of the initial
stresses in the soil. Different K0 values lead to different failure
mechanisms and different velocities and run-outs of the
mobilised mass.
This facts lead to conclude that the initial stress state highly
influences the geometry of the slip surface and the post-failure
behaviour. Therefore, it is essential to model as accurately as
possible the soil history; in this case by considering the over-
consolidated state of the clay layers and the unloading process
due to the cutting of the slope.
This current work contributes to further validate the MPM,
and highlighted the potential of the method which is not only
capable of describing the conditions leading to slope failure but
also, it is capable of following in time the post-failure behaviour
of the unstable soil mass. Moreover, this work shows the
importance of the initial stress state modelling in order to
approach the correct results in slope stability analysis.
7 AKNOWLEDGEMNTS
Results from the Selborne experiment (Cooper 1996, Cooper et
al. 1998, Grant 1996) are used with the permission of the
authors. The author wants to thank Prof. Eduardo Alonso from
Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Dr. Alba Yerro from
Cambridge University, Dr. Alex Rohe and Dr. Mario Martinelli
from Deltares for their support and advice in this work.
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