Development of limit equilibrium method as optimization in slope stability analysis

The slope stability analysis is usually done using the methods of calculation to rupture. The problem lies in determining the critical failure surface and the corresponding factor of safety (FOS). To evaluate the slope stability by a method of limit equilibrium, there are linear and nonlinear methods. The linear methods are direct methods of calculation of FOS but nonlinear methods require an iterative process. The nonlinear simplified Bishop method\'s is popular because it can quickly calculate FOS for different slopes. This paper concerns the use of inverse analysis by genetic algorithm (GA) to find out the factor of safety for the slopes using the Bishop simplified method. The analysis is formulated to solve the nonlinear equilibrium equation and find the critical failure surface and the corresponding safety factor. The results obtained by this approach compared with those available in literature illustrate the effectiveness of this inverse method.