Search for noncircular slip surfaces by the Morgenstern-Price Method

Four techniques for solving optimization problems have been investigated to search for a general noncircular critical slip surface by using the Morgenstern and Price method. These techniques are the Nelder and Mead simplex method, the Powell, the DFP and the BFGS methods. In the present study the problem of slope stability has been formulated as a simple, yet versatile procedure for solving an optimization process. A computer program has been developed and its basic characteristics have been revealed by investigating various aspects of example problems. It is shown that for slopes consisting of inhomogeneous soils, an initial estimate for the optimization process plays a particularly important role.