Assessment of Optimum Location of Non-circular Failure Surface in Soil Slope Using Unified Particle Swarm Optimization

The solution of slope stability problems requires determination of critical failure surface and associated optimum/minimum factor of safety (FOS) value. Investigation of critical failure surface in any soil slope can be posed as a constrained global optimization problem. In this article, a simplified technique of generation of segmented non-circular failure surface is proposed. Unified particle swarm optimization (UPSO) method is utilized to search for the critical failure surface and associated minimum FOS of the slope. Limit equilibrium technique-based Morgenstern–Price method is used to evaluate the FOS value of the potential failure mass which satisfy both force as well as moment equilibrium. To demonstrate the performance of UPSO and its competence in yielding critical failure surface along with minimum FOS value, three benchmark problems with differing complexities are chosen from existing literatures. The results obtained are compared and are found to be in accord with the published literatures. The performance of UPSO as a solution algorithm for slope problems are established through convergence studies of various related parameters.