Development and application of a dynamic XFEM for the seismic residual displacement analysis of an embankment

In this paper, several approaches are examined to validate the proposed method. Specifically, the method is compared to Newmark's method, a multiple sliding surfaces model, a method including the effect of using elastic moduli, and an inverse analysis. It is found that the proposed method can calculate results similar to those of Newmark's method when using a highly elastic modulus material. In addition, it is also found that there are different residual displacements between single and multiple sliding surfaces. These results indicate that the careful selection of a sliding surface should be made when considering multiple sliding surfaces. Furthermore, the proposed method shows that the displacement of a soft embankment is greater than the displacement of a relatively hard embankment. Finally, an inverse analysis of a road embankment failure, caused by the 2007 Noto Hanto earthquake, is examined. The proposed method shows that the residual displacement is reproducible.