pore water pressures in three dimensional slope stability analysis

although some 3d slope stability algorithms have been proposed in recent three decades, still role of pore pressures in three dimensional slope stability analyses and considering the effects of pore water pressure in 3d slope stability studies needs to be investigated. in this paper, a limit analysis formulation for investigation of role of the pore water pressure in three dimensional slope stability problems is presented. a rigid-block translational collapse mechanism is used, with energy dissipation taking place along planar velocity discontinuities. results are compared with those obtained by others. it was found that water pressure causes the three-dimensional effects to be more significant, especially in gentle slopes. this may be related to the larger volume of the failure mass in gentle slopes resulting in more end effects. dimensionless stability factors for three dimensional slope stability analyses are presented - including the 3d effect of the pore water pressure – for different values of the slope angle in cohesive and noncohesive soils.