An Experimental Study on Seismic Response of Physical Anti-Dip Rock Slope Models by Shaking Table Tests

This study examines the seismic response and stability of whole anti-dip rock slope and individual composed blocks by a series of shaking table tests with a physical model consisting of 16 independent blocks. In the tests, different peak ground accelerations (PGA) and sine waveform frequencies were considered as seismic loadings, including PGA of 0.24 g, 0.4 g, and 0.48 g at a constant 4 Hz frequency and frequencies of 4, 5, and 6 Hz under a constant PGA of 0.24 g. The images of the seismic response of the whole model and the component blocks were captured by a high-speed camera. In addition, the stability of the physical model under seismic loading was analyzed by the limit equilibrium method and was compared with the test results. The preliminary findings are summarized as follows: (1) the acceleration responses of the model are related to the geometries of the composed blocks and the seismic conditions; (2) the maximum sliding displacement and rotation angle of a block will decrease with an increase of frequency; (3) at a frequency of 4 Hz, the PGA increases from 0.24 g to 0.48 g, the sliding displacement of the blocks near the bottom of the slope were larger than those near the top, and the rotation angle also increases with increasing PGA; (4) Limit equilibrium analysis results show that it underestimate the actual degree of destruction and it can't reflect the actual destructive mode. © 2019, Chinese Institute of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering. All right reserved.