Analysis of Parameters of National Highway Slope Protection Project under Dynamic Behavior by Finite Element Method

Taiwan, located in the Pacific Rim seismic zone, frequently experiences catastrophic earthquakes, posing significant risks to life and property. The impact of seismic activity is exacerbated by the expansion of urban and transportation infrastructures into hillside and mountainous regions, areas less stable than plains. We analyzed slope stability for National Highway No. 1 (at 6K+600) and National Highway No. 5 (at 4K+090) through dynamic simulation using the finite element software, PLAXIS 2D. The seismic data for the 331 Yilan Hualien Offshore Earthquake, provided by the Central Weather Bureau’s Seismological Information Center, was employed in this study. Seismic forces were adjusted in line with the Taiwan National Research Center for Earthquake Engineering’s standardized response spectrum to simulate the slope sliding areas under both design seismic forces and maximum considered seismic forces. The study findings showed acceleration amplification, sinkage, and material stress changes and offered crucial insights for slope protection projects in seismically active and topographically challenging regions.