Multiple-slopes stability assessment by limit equilibrium and genetic algorithms

Soil slope stability analysis is a key process in geotechnical engineering that aims to find the so-called factor of safety. The engineering practice usually employs the limit equilibrium method to this end. However this method possesses a number of limitations such as postulating a failure surface. Despite the limitations of the method, it became a standard in the industry and the results obtained from it are shown by academics to be not considerably different from results obtained with better methods such as the limit analysis method or the finite element method. The key for such accuracy is a well designed optimisation algorithm since the process reduces to a challenging optimisation problem. This paper investigates a robust algorithm based on a "genetic algorithm" that is able to provide accurate results, including for the case of multiple slopes cut in a large area such as in mining operations. Numerical simulations are presented and comparisons with conventional software are made illustrating the great capabilities of the proposed method