Impact of the transient groundwater with seismic load on the nailed slope stability

Abstract An analysis study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the transient groundwater table with and without impacts of seismic loads on stability of excavation nailed slope using Bishop and Janbu simplified methods. The results showed that the factor of safety values increased with increasing of the groundwater table depth and reached a relatively maximum level for each of the two methods of analysis when the groundwater table drops to the depths 18, 19, and 20 m. Also, the results indicated that the percentage of increase in the factor of safety decreased significantly, starting from depth = 13 m, and the differences converge greatly to the point of fading at depths 17 and 18 m and these findings support the notion that the presence of groundwater table in the upper layers of the excavation sides poses a greater risk and increases the possibility of collapse failure.