Pore pressure effect on seismic response of slopes

Seismic slope stability is a topic of great interest in geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering. To evaluate the stability conditions and the serviceability of a slope after a seismic event a displacement analysis should be performed. In this paper an extension of Newmark's sliding block is presented; the slope stability is evaluated taking into account the earthquake induced pore pressure on saturated cohesionless soil. The effect of shear strength reduction on seismic displacement is evaluated and some useful stability charts are provided to predict the occurrence of liquefaction landslides and to evaluate the influence of soil relative density and static hydraulic conditions on seismic slope response. Applying the proposed model a parametric analysis has been performed considering both harmonic and real accelerograms in order to point out those parameters which affect the system response.