LAUSR

The calculation of factor of safety and the determination of the critical slip surface (a slip surface with the minimal factor of safety) are essential steps in stability analysis of soil slopes. In this study, a genetic simulated annealing algorithm (GSA), which combines the genetic algorithm and the simulated annealing algorithm, is proposed to quickly and accurately locate the critical slip surface of soil slopes. The corresponding factors of safety of slip surfaces are calculated based on the stress field of soil slopes that are computed by finite element method (FEM). The search ability of GSA for the critical slip surface of an earth-rock dam slope is proved to be more accurate and efficient compared with the golden-section method based on the same stress field calculated by FEM. In addition, a practical slope with complex soil layering is presented to further illustrate the reasonability of the calculation results of GSA in conjunction with FEM. The numerical simulations shows that the factor of safety and the critical slip surface determined using GSA with FEM is in good agreement with that using the shear strength reduction method.