Seismic slope failure modelling using the mesh-free SPH method

In the past few decades, majority of dynamic behavior of slope have been conducted using the finite element method (FEM). However, earthquakes often cause large deformation and post-seismic soil deformation which are difficult to predict using the FEM due to mesh distortion issues. As an alternative numerical method, the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) has been recently applied to geotechnical field and showed to be a promising numerical technique to handle large deformation and post-failure behavior of geomaterials. In this paper, taking into consideration of this advantage, the SPH method is applied to simulate response of a slope subjected to seismic loading. Reliability of SPH results was assessed by comparing with experimental data available in the literature. It is shown that the SPH method could qualitatively predict slope failure behavior observed in the experiment