Application of the shear band propagation approach to the GIS based 3D slope stability analysis

The risk assessment evaluation of offshore projects usually involves investigation of large seafloor areas. Though finite element analysis is a powerful tool for investigation of slope stability, it reaches its limitations in both time and resources when it comes to modeling entire aquatic basins.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have proven themselves as an efficient tool for analyzing large data sets both deterministically and using probabilistic approaches. These frameworks, however, require analytical criteria for the evaluation of the slope stability. Existing criteria for catastrophic shear band propagation in submarine slopes are either restricted to plane strain conditions or valid only for planar slopes.

The goal of this research is formulating analytical criteria for the catastrophic shear band propagation for true three-dimensional slope geometries. These state of the art models and criteria will be implemented in an in-house developed GIS based framework that will allow landslide risk assessment for large aquatic basins.