Seismic dynamic responses and acoustic emission criteria of a horizontal soft–hard interbedded slope

In this study, we used the slope of the area around the Three Gorges Reservoir (Chongqing Wanzhou Construction General Lease Company, China) as a prototype to develop a large-scale shaking table model (1:16 scale) of a horizontal soft and hard interbedded slope and tested the slope dynamic responses and acoustic emission characteristics under the action of earthquake load. The results showed that, in the vertical and horizontal directions, the acceleration amplification factor demonstrated an elevation amplification effect and surface amplification effect, respectively. As the input wave frequency increased, the acceleration amplification factor (AAF) first increased and then decreased, and the AAF reached its maximum value when the frequency was 10–15 Hz. As the input wave amplitude increased, the slope AAF generally manifested first as an increase and then decreased. The seismic wave time compression ratio also significantly affected the dynamic response of the slope. Larger time compression ratios non-linearly increased the acceleration amplification coefficient. Using cusp catastrophe theory, we established the potential function of the sudden change model of the slope acoustic emission ringing count (energy) and the peak acceleration of the seismic wave; quantitatively, the critical acceleration amplitude of the slope dynamic instability was determined to be 0.6g. © 2021, Saudi Society for Geosciences.