This paper summarizes recent research related to predicting earthquake-induced sliding displacements of earth slopes. Recently developed empirical models for the prediction of sliding displacements for shallow (rigid) failure surfaces are discussed, and comparisons of the different models demonstrate that including peak ground velocity, along with peak ground acceleration, reduces the median displacement prediction and the standard deviation of the prediction. Thus, peak velocity provides important information regarding the level of sliding displacement. A framework is developed such that the recently developed empirical displacement models for rigid sliding can be used for deeper, flexible failure surfaces, where the dynamic response of the sliding mass is important. This framework includes predicting the seismic loading for the sliding mass in terms of the maximum seismic coefficient (kmax) and the maximum velocity of the seismic coefficient-time history (k-velmax). The predictive models for kmax and k-velmax are a function of the peak ground acceleration (PGA), peak ground velocity (PGV), the natural period of the sliding mass (Ts), and the mean period of the earthquake motion (Tm). With a slight modification, the empirical predictive models for rigid sliding masses can be used, with PGA replaced by kmax and PGV replaced by k-velmax. The standard deviations for the modified predictive models for flexible sliding masses are slightly smaller than those for rigid sliding masses
