A slope stability analysis method based on finite element analysis is developed. The slip surface is still assumed to be circular arc. The mesh of finite element consists of a family of circular arc lines and a family of vertical lines. The slip force and the resistance are analyzed for the arc belt which is between two neighbouring arc lines

and the equilibrium equation is set up. Then the factor of safety is determined. The arc belt corresponding to the smallest factor of safety is the possible slip belt. The position of circle center is changed and the circle center of real slip surface is seeked by the optimum seek method. For the real slip surface

the factor of safety is minimum. The computation examples show that the calculated factor of safety is quite close to that of Bishop’s method. And this shows that the proposed method is reasonable. The outstanding merit of the proposed method is that the stress state on slip surface can be obtained directly from finite element computation

and is more accurate. The method can reflect nonlinear deformation behavior of soil and is more close to the real situation. Besides

as one of the methods of slope stability analysis by finite element

the displacements are calculated. This offers the possibility to estimate the slope stability during construction by displacement monitor in situ. And it can also be used to analyze the slope of expansive soil in considering the influence of expansive deformation.