Linking limit equilibrium analysis and landslide risk assessment

Current best practice for landslide risk assessment in Australia involves using the Australian Geomechanics Society (AGS) Guidelines for Landslide Risk Management (2007). However, many regulatory bodies (e.g. Councils) still adopt performance criteria relating to a factor of safety (FoS). Input parameters for limiting equilibrium analysis are often selected in a subjective manner. This can lead to significant differences in opinion between practitioners. Two issues are addressed in this paper, these being:

1. Provision of a robust procedure for adopting modelling parameters and undertaking limiting equilibrium analysis.
2. Linking limiting equilibrium results to a Landslide Risk Assessment (LRA).