ABSTRACT
The simplified Bishop method has been widely used in slope stability analysis and is regarded as the best method of limit equilibrium for calculating the factors of safety of circular slip surfaces. This chapter describes the reason why the simplified Bishop method always gives factors of safety of circular slip surfaces in good agreement with those given by the rigorous methods. Since the simplified Bishop method implicitly satisfies all the complete equilibrium conditions through proper selection of vertical interslice force distribution, it is not strange that the simplified Bishop method has the accuracy that compares with that of other rigorous methods of slices. The simplified Bishop method, which neglects the vertical interslice forces and takes no account of the horizontal force equilibrium condition, has accuracy as high as the rigorous limit equilibrium methods of slices.
