ABSTRACT
Finite-element (FE) methods combined with a technique called strength reduction have been developed to evaluate the structure safety. The strength reduction technique was first forward by Zien-kiewicz et al., when performing elastoplastic analysis for soil stability by using FE method. The concept of strength reduction is defined as a ratio of the shear stress produced by the external loads acting on the structure to the maximum mobilized shear strength of soil. The strength reduction FE method with adjusting the Poisson’s ratio according to the criterion is proved to provide only an appropriate factor of safety, but also a sound plastic zone. The reduction of Young’s modulus of soils obeying E-vhyperbolic model has been studied and its effect on the plastic zones and factors of safety has been discussed.
