Experimental and numerical study on stability performance of new ecological slope protection using bolt-hinge anchored block

The ecological effects of slopes are important for improving water conservation, controlling soil erosion, and enhancing soil fertility. However, to satisfy the stability requirement of slopes, slope protection engineering is usually used, which may reduce the ecological effects. To improve the stability and reliability of slope protection and achieve improved ecological effects, a new ecological slope protection method was proposed, in which bolt-hinge anchored blocks and an ecological vegetative cover were used. To understand the stability performance of the new ecological slope protection method, four slope protection methods, including the natural slope without vegetation, hinged block slope protection, ecological hinge block slope protection, and the new ecological slope protection using bolt-hinged anchored blocks, were studied using a shaking table experimental tests. Consequently, accurate distribution and development process of slope stress and displacement under actual earthquake acceleration waves, thesis calculation, and numerical simulation were obtained. The thesis calculation method was proposed based on the shaking table test results and the simplified iteration calculation, which considers slope accelerations, earth pressure, and displacements. The finite-difference method was also used to obtain stability coefficients of slope protection to prove the accuracy of the stability coefficient calculation equations. The earth pressure, displacement, and stability coefficients under earthquake action were obtained and analysed. The results showed that under high magnitude earthquake acceleration ((0.8 g), the slope stability coefficient was improved by 57.3% by the bolt-hinge anchored block together with the vegetation root system; therefore, the new ecological slope protection exhibited the best slope stability performance compared to the other contrastive slope protection methods. Additionally, the accuracy of the stability coefficient calculation equations was shown by the comparison of stability coefficient calculation results from equations and finite-difference analysis.