On the cyclic failure mechanism of soil slopes

Dynamic loads, such as earthquakes, triggered a large number of landslides with more complicated failure mechanism due to their significant rate effect and cyclic effect. Thus, the failure mechanism is essential for an accurate evaluation of the dynamic stability of slopes. A series of centrifuge model tests was conducted to investigate the progressive failure behavior of slopes under cyclic loading conditions with different amplitudes. The cyclic effect was quantitatively analyzed in view of the deformation and failure behavior of slopes and was discovered equivalently induced by different combinations of the amplitude and the number of loading cycles. For example, the slope failure was induced by a cyclic loading with an increasing amplitude as the number of loading cycles decreased, with an extreme case of the monotonic loading with a larger magnitude. The slope exhibited a significant progressive failure with a downward sequence from the top. The slip surface became shallower as the amplitude of the cyclic loading increased and was shallowest under the monotonic loading condition. Cyclic loading induced deformation localization and the localization developed to cause local failure in the slope. The local failure, together with the effect of cyclic loading, contributed to new deformation localization that determined the development of the slip surface. The amplitude of the cyclic loading affected the propagation of deformation localization in slopes, resulting in the observed variation of the slip surfaces under different loading patterns.