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Effect of lithology and structure on seismic response of steep slope in a shaking table test

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Abstract

Studies on landslides by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake showed that topography was of great importance in amplifying the seismic shaking, and among other factors, lithology and slope structure controlled the spatial occurrence of slope failures. The present study carried out experiments on four rock slopes with steep angle of 60° by means of a shaking table. The recorded Wenchuan earthquake waves were scaled to excite the model slopes. Measurements from accelerometers installed on free surface of the model slope were analyzed, with much effort on time-domain acceleration responses to horizontal components of seismic shaking. It was found that the amplification factor of peak horizontal acceleration, R PHA, was increasing with elevation of each model slope, though the upper and lower halves of the slope exhibited different increasing patterns. As excitation intensity was increased, the drastic deterioration of the inner structure of each slope caused the sudden increase of R PHA in the upper slope part. In addition, the model simulating the soft rock slope produced the larger R PHA than the model simulating the hard rock slope by a maximum factor of 2.6. The layered model slope also produced the larger R PHA than the homogeneous model slope by a maximum factor of 2.7. The upper half of a slope was influenced more seriously by the effect of lithology, while the lower half was influenced more seriously by the effect of slope structure.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610059, China

    Han-xiang Liu & Qiang Xu

  2. AGECON Ltd., Hong Kong, China

    Yan-rong Li

Authors
  1. Han-xiang Liu
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  2. Qiang Xu
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  3. Yan-rong Li
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Correspondence to Qiang Xu.

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Liu, Hx., Xu, Q. & Li, Yr. Effect of lithology and structure on seismic response of steep slope in a shaking table test. J. Mt. Sci. 11, 371–383 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-013-2790-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-013-2790-6

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