  This paper is focused on the definition, analysis and numerical solution of a
new optimization variant (OPT) of the shear strength reduction (SSR) problem
with applications to slope stability problems. This new variant is derived on
the basis of recent results by Tschuchnigg et al. 2015, where limit analysis
and a modified Davis approach were used for approximation of the standard SSR
method. The OPT-SSR method computes the factor of safety without performing an
elasto-plastic analysis, similarly as in limit analysis. It is shown that this
optimization problem is well-defined. Next, the duality between the static and
kinematic principles of OPT-SSR is derived. For the numerical solution, a
regularization method is introduced and analyzed. This method is combined with
the finite element method, mesh adaptivity and a damped Newton method. In-house
codes (Matlab) are used for the implementation of this solution concept.
Finally, two slope stability problems are considered, one of which follows from
analysis of a real slope. The softwares packages Plaxis and Comsol Multiphysics
are used for comparison of the results.
