Coupling of topographic and stratigraphic effects on seismic response of slopes through 2D linear and equivalent linear analyses

In this paper the seismic response of simple slope geometries under vertically propagating in-plane shear waves (SV waves) is assessed through two-dimensional finite element analyses to investigate the amplification of the ground motion induced by soil topography. Topographic horizontal and vertical amplification factors were evaluated through different sets of analyses focused on slopes in homogeneous half space and on slopes overlying either a rigid or a compliant bedrock. Soil was assumed to behave as a linear visco-elastic or as an equivalent-linear visco-elastic material. In the analyses the effects of slope inclination and of the characteristics of the input motion were also investigated. In order to calibrate the numerical model, the results obtained in linear visco-elastic analyses were compared with the results of parametric numerical analyses available in the literature, showing a good agreement. The results confirmed that a complex interaction exists between stratigraphic and topographic effects on the amplification of the ground motion and that the two effects cannot be evaluated independently and easily uncoupled. In the case of compliant bedrock the effect of the impedance ratio was also investigated. The results of the equivalent-linear analyses pointed out the remarkable dependence on soil nonlinear behavior and, when compared to the results of linear visco-elastic analyses, showed that without accounting for soil non-linear behavior, topographic amplification factors may result underestimated. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.