Abstract: The Numerical Manifold Method (NMM), as a new numerical method, has seldom been utilized in the anti'sliding stability analysis of gravity dam. In this study, the load matrix of water pressure and uplift pressure, as well as the solution of safety factor were given. Furthermore, NMM was adopted to analyze the anti'sliding stability of the foundation planes of gravity dam and the deeply laid double inclined planes, the safety factor was thus calculated, and was further compared with the corre sponding results obtained by the contact analysis in finite element method (FEM). The results demonstrated that the safety factors calculated by the above two methods, namely the NMM and FEM, were fundamentally consistent, which verified the feasibility of applying NMM to the anti sliding stability analysis of gravity dam.

Key words: numerical manifold method, gravity dam, stability analysis against sliding, safety factor