Finite element modeling of the joint action of flow slide and protective structure

Introduction. In the context of the problem of plane deformation, a finite-element model of a natural landslide slope is developed. It allows for the joint work of a flow slide and a protective engineering structure. The Drucker-Prager model is used to take into account the physical nonlinearity of the slope layer material. To activate the kinematic instability, a viscoelastic interlayer is introduced into the design scheme, along which the landslide layer slides.Materials and Methods. Numerical experiments were performed using the ANSYS Mechanical software package, which implements the finite element method in the form of the displacement method. Slope discretization is performed on the basis of PLANE42 flat four-node finite elements. To simulate the displacement of the landslide layer relative to the fixed base, the combined viscoelastic elements COMBIN14 were used.Results. A physically nonlinear model of a natural landslide slope consisting of a base, a landslide layer, and a viscoelastic interlayer, is formalized. An engineering technique for analyzing the stress-strain state of the “slopeprotective structure” system has been developed, taking into account the kinematic instability of the landslide layer. A series of computational experiments was carried out.Discussion and Conclusion. Based on the calculations performed, it is shown that the proposed method enables to specify the force action of the landslide layer on the protective structure and, thereby, to increase the reliability of the risk assessment when activating the landslide process.