According to the realistic damage characteristics of slopes on the seismogenic faults as well as the fracture mechanismss of the faults in the Wenchuan earthquake

a so-called strip-shape hypocenter is employed to assess the dynamic responses of the typical slopes. Furthermore

the strip-shape hypocenter can be divided into four stages in accordance with their spatial locations from the initial break to the end break of the seismogenic fault. These stages consist of the thrust fault hypocenter

the thrust and a bit strike-slip fault hypocenter

the thrust and strike-slip fault hypocenter and the strike-slip and a bit thrust fault hypocenter. Thus

the distinct element method is applied to simulate the dynamic response of the Daguangbao landslide on the Longmenshan seismogenic fault in Sichuan province in China. Then

the dynamic formation mechanism

the triggered main controlling factors

and dynamic characteristics of damage

collapse and accumulation are revealed. The results show that the critical damage of the slope is mainly caused by the thrust and a bit strike-slip fault hypocenter

by considering the location of the front end of the fault break and the formation time of the critical damage. While before the critical damage of the slope

its damage is induced by the thrust fault hypocenter between the initial break of the faults and Wenchuan county. The following processes of ejecting

colliding

crushing and accumulating are mainly triggered by the coupled inertia force and the gravitational force

which are also influenced at a certain degree by the above two kinds of hypocenters with respect to their fracture mechanisms. Before the critical damage

the whole slope underwent a positive horizontal distance towards its free face. Then

the slide bed begins a negative horizontal distance away from its free face with a continuous positive horizontal distance of the slide mass

which results in a critical separation between them. At the ejecting

colliding and crushing stage

the slide bed continues its negative horizontal displacement to an extreme limit

then a positive horizontal one and followed by its zero horizontal displacement. The vertical displacement at this stage is relatively small. The motion characteristics of the slide bed in this process is in accordance with that of the monitoring seismic data

for example

the acceleration

the velocity and the displacement. Meanwhile

the slide mass continues its positive displacement to a constant limit with a colliding

crushing

accumulating to self-stabilization process. As far as the mechanical factors are concerned

the horizontal seismic force formed by the single thrust fault hypocenter and the thrust and a bit strike-slip fault hypocenter provides a key contribution to the whole slope including the slide bed and the slide mass before the critical damage state. At the ejecting

colliding

crushing and accumulating stage

the dynamic responses of the slide mass is mainly influenced by the inertia force and the gravitational force. However

on the basis of a special topography

the horizontal and the vertical seismic forces from the following two hypocenters give their finite influences to the slide mass.