Global Search Method for Locating General Slip Surface Using Monte Carlo Techniques

Searching for the critical slip surface and the lowest factor of safety in slope stability analysis can be achieved by means of optimization techniques. A new search procedure in generating kinematically admissible slip surfaces has been introduced in this paper. Such a procedure is based, mainly, on the Monte Carlo methods, where both the critical global slip surface as well as its associated factor of safety is determined. Several practical examples, of known minimum factor of safety and its associated slip surface, have been used to demonstrate the efficiency and capability of the proposed method. The method is intended to be robust and effective to solve problems that involve extremely complicated slope geometry. It is as powerful as any other powerful optimization methods.