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Abstract
Slope failures constitute one of the major causes of damage during earthquakes. Earthquake ground motions produce large cyclic inertial stresses in soils which increases the total shear stresses acting on a soil element. This increase may result in loss of strength in sandy soils (known as liquefaction) or shear failure in clayey cohesive soils.
This study concentrates on the seismic behavior of cohesive soils. Three objectives are discussed (a) the dynamic characteristics of clayey soils, (b) the effect of water content changes on the dynamic behavior of cohesive slopes, and (c) comparison of the dynamic response and deformation among different types of clays. Two different clays were used for this purpose; kaolinite and montmorillonite. In the first step, static index property and strength analysis was carried out. Information gathered from these tests was used to analyze the slope models under static conditions. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
