SOIL MECHANICS - II

Stability of Slopes

Lecture No. 14

Muhammad Usman Arshid

Department of Civil Engineering
University of Engineering & Technology Taxila
1
Landslide in Thailand
• Slopes either occur naturally or are engineered by humans.
• An understanding of geology, hydrology, and soil properties is
essential to understand slope stability principles properly.
• Analyses must be based upon a model that accurately
represents site conditions, ground behavior, and applied loads.
• Type of Analysis
 Types of Slope

• Cut Slopes
• Fill Slopes
• Retaining Walls
• Hybrids: Cut/Retaining Wall / Fill/Retaining Wall
• “Natural” Slopes - is there a better word?

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 Types of Slope
• Cut Slopes
• Fill Slopes
• Retaining Walls
Cut Slope

“Natural” Slope

Fill Slope

Retaining Wall

• Hybrids: Cut/Retaining Wall

/ Fill/Retaining Wall
• “Natural” Slopes - is there a
better word?
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Cut Slopes and Fill Slopes

Cut Slope

“Natural” Slope

Fill Slope

Retaining Wall

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Types of slope failure
DIFFERENT MODES OF SLOPE FAILURE

TOPPLE
DIFFERENT MODES OF SLOPE FAILURE
FACTORS AFFECTING SLOPE FAILURE
Geological discontinuities
Effect of Water (Force Due To Seepage of Water)
Geotechnical Properties of Material
Mining Methods
State of stress
Geometry of slope: (Gravitational Force)
Temperature
Erosion (of the Surface of the Slopes due To Flowing Water)
Seismic effect (Forces Due To Earthquakes)

Vegetation
FACTORS AFFECTING SLOPE FAILURE

Geotechnical Properties of slope

 Shear strength of rock mass
 Cohesion (C)
 Angle of Internal friction (Ø)
 Density
 Permeability
 Moisture Content
 Particle size distribution
 Angle of Repose

“Angle of repose” is the angle of steepest slope at

which material will remain stable when loosely piled;
 FACTORS AFFECTING SLOPE STABILITY
Cohesion : It is the characteristic property of a rock or soil that
measures how well it resists being deformed or broken by forces
such as gravity. In soils/rocks true cohesion is caused by
electrostatic forces in stiff over consolidated clays, cementing by
Fe2O3, CaCO3, NaCl, etc and root cohesion.
However the apparent cohesion is caused by negative capillary
pressure and pore pressure response during undrained loading.
Slopes having rocks/soils with less cohesion tend to be less stable

Angle of Internal Friction: Angle of internal friction is the angle

(Ø), measured between the normal force (N) and resultant force (R),
that is attained when failure just occurs in response to a shearing
stress(S).Its tangent (S/N) is the coefficient of sliding friction. It is a
measure of the ability of a unit of rock or soil to withstand a shear
stress. This is affected by particle roundness and particle size.
FACTORS AFFECTING SLOPE STABILITY
Lithology: The rock materials forming a pit slope determines the rock mass
strength modified by discontinuities, faulting, folding, old workings and
weathering. Pit slopes having alluvium or weathered rocks at the surface
have low shearing strength and the strength gets further reduced if water
seepage takes place through them. These types of slopes must be
flatter.

Ground Water: It causes the following:

• alters the cohesion and frictional parameters and

• reduce the normal effective stress

• Ground water causes increased up thrust and driving water forces and
has adverse effect on the stability of the slopes. Physical and chemical
effect of pure water pressure in joints filling material can thus alter the
cohesion and friction of the discontinuity surface.

• Physical and the chemical effect of the water pressure in the pores of
the rock cause a decrease in the compressive strength particularly
where confining stress has been reduced.
Limit-Equilibrium
 The point at which a material has reached the
limit of its stability using the concept of yield
criteria and the associated flow rule in the
stress—strain relationship,
STATIC EQULIBRIUM
 If an object is at rest and is in a state
of equilibrium, then we would say that
the object is at "static equilibrium."
"Static" means stationary or at rest.
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 Slope Stability
• Safety Factor: = Resisting/Driving Forces
If SF >1, then safe or stable slope
If SF <1, then unsafe or unstable slope
• Driving and resisting force variables:
– Slip surface – “plane of weakness”
– Type of Earth materials
– Slope angle and topography
– Climate, vegetation, and water
– Shaking
• Causes vs. triggers
 Human Land Use and Landslide
• Urbanization, irrigation
• Timber harvesting in weak,
relatively unstable areas
• Artificial fillings of loose
materials
• Artificial modification
of landscape
• Dam construction
 Basic Analysis Approach for Rotational
Failure Surface
Limit Equilibrium: 1) Assume some circular (or other shape) failure surface
2) Calculate driving forces (moment about O)
3) Calculate resisting forces (moment about O)
Issues:
Where is the center of mass?
How does resistance vary along surface?
How does normal stress vary along surface?
Water table and seepage forces?
Soil layering?
More complex geometry?
 SLICED METHOD

• THIS METHOD CAN BE USED FOR SOIL IN DIFFERENT SHEARING

RESISTANCE ALONG THE FAILURE PLANE
• PROPOSED BY FELLENIUS ,BISHOP, JANBU, ETC
• ASSUMED CIRCULAR FAILURE PLANE
 REGULATION OF SLICES

1. SLICES PERFORMED IN VERTICAL DIRECTION

2. THE WIDTH OF THE SLICE MAY NOT HAVE THE SAME MEASUREMENT
3. ONE SLICE MUST HAVE ONE TYPE OF SOIL IN THE FAILURE SURFACE
(BASE OF SLICE)
4. THE WIDTH OF THE SLICE MUST BE SUCH THAT THE CURVE (FAILURE
PLANE) CAN BE CONSIDERED A STRAIGHT LINE
5. THE TOTAL WEIGHT OF SOIL IN A SLICE IS THE SOIL WEDGE ITSELF,
INCLUDING WATER AND EXTERNAL LOAD
 Method of Slices (General)
• Assume some failure surface
Discretize failure surface into smaller elements (slices)
• Bottom of each slice passes through one type of material
• Curved bottom of each slice approximated as chord
• More slices = more refined solution
• 10-40 slices typically sufficient (less for hand solutions)
Calculate factor of safety for each slice (strength/stress) and overall factor of safety
Find lowest FS for different failure surfaces

Side forces make the problem statically indeterminant

 Ordinary Method of Slices (OMS)

• Side forces neglected (statically determinant)

• Effective Stress Analysis (ESA)

• Total Stress Analysis (TSA)

 STEP BY STEP PROCEDURE

1. DRAW CROSS-SECTION TO NATURAL SCALE

2. SELECT FAILURE SURFACE
3. DIVIDE THE FAILURE MASS INTO SOME SLICES
4. COMPUTE TOTAL WEIGHT ( WT ) OF EACH SLICE
5. COMPUTE FRICTIONAL RESISTING FORCE FOR EACH SLICE N TANΦ – UL
6. COMPUTE COHESIVE RESISTING FORCE FOR EACH SLICE CL
7. COMPUTE TANGENTIAL DRIVING FORCE (T) FOR EACH SLICE
8. SUM RESISTING AND DRIVING FORCES FOR ALL SLICES AND COMPUTE FS
 RECOMMENDED STABILITY METHODS

• ORDINARY METHOD OF SLICES (OMS) IGNORES BOTH SHEAR AND

NORMAL INTERSLICE FORCES AND ONLY MOMENT EQUILIBRIUM
• BISHOP METHOD
- ALSO KNOWN AS SIMPLIFIED BISHOP METHOD
- INCLUDES INTERSLICE NORMAL FORCES
- NEGLECTS INTERSLICE SHEAR FORCES
- SATISFIES ONLY MOMENT EQUILIBRIUM
 OTHERS

• SIMPLIFIED JANBU METHOD

- INCLUDES INTERSLICE NORMAL FORCES
- NEGLECTS INTERSLICE SHEAR FORCES
- SATISFIES ONLY HORIZONTAL FORCE EQUILIBRIUM
• SPENCER METHOD
- INCLUDES BOTH NORMAL AND SHEAR INTERSLICE FORCES
- CONSIDERS MOMENT EQUILIBRIUM
- MORE ACCURATE THAN OTHER METHODS
 RECOMMENDED STABILITY METHODS

OMS IS CONSERVATIVE AND GIVES UNREALISTICALLY LOWER FS THAN

BISHOP OR OTHER REFINED METHODS
FOR PURELY COHESIVE SOILS, OMS AND BISHOP METHOD GIVE IDENTICAL
RESULTS
FOR FRICTIONAL SOILS, BISHOP METHOD SHOULD BE USED AS A
MINIMUM
RECOMMENDATION: USE BISHOP, SIMPLIFIED JANBU OR SPENCER
EXAMPLES
 Example 2
Compute the long term factor of safety for the failure surface using the OMS
1) Divide into slices (draw to scale)

2) Compute weights
3) Compute average pore pressure at base of each slice
4) Solve for overall factor of safety

5) Repeat for another failure surface to find minimum FS

 SOIL MECHANICS - II

Stability of Slopes

Lecture No. 14-2

Muhammad Usman Arshid

Department of Civil Engineering
University of Engineering & Technology Taxila
57
 Modified Bishop’s Method

• Neglecting side forces (OMS) produces FS too low (conservative)

• Assume side shear forces are zero but account for side normal forces

Effective Stress Analysis (ESA)

Not a closed-form solution (FS on both sides of equation); requires iterative approach
 Modified Bishop’s Method

• Neglecting side forces (OMS) produces FS too low (conservative)

• Assume side shear forces are zero but account for side normal forces

Total Stress Analysis (TSA)

 Example 2
Compute the long term FS for the failure surface using the Modified Bishops Method
1) Divide into slices (draw to scale)

2) Trial FS = 2.0 (or from OMS)

FS = 2,206/1,071 = 2.05 (too high)

3) Trial FS = 2.10

FS = 2,221/1,071 = 2.07 (close enough? or keep iterating)

 DESIGN CHARTS
 Slope stability analysis based on design charts is
useful
 for preliminary analysis
 for rapid means of checking the results of detailed
analyses
 to compare alternates that can later be examined by
rigorous analysis
 to determine the approximate value of the F as it allows
some quality control check for the subsequent
computer-generated solutions
 To back-calculate strength values for failed slopes to aid
in planning remedial measures
 DESIGN CHARTS…
o Taylor’s chart (1948)
o Bishop & Morgenstern (1960)
o Spencer (1967)
o Janbu ( ) 1968)
o Hunter & Schuster (1968)
o Chen & Giger (1971)
o O’Connor & Mitchell (1977)
o Cousins (1978)
o Ch l & arles & Soares (1984)
o Barnes (1991)
TAYLOR’S CHARTS ( ) 1948)…
 REMIDIALMEASURES
 IMPROVING SURFACE AND SUBSURFACE DRAINAGE:

Because water is a main factor in landslides, improving surface and

subsurface drainage at the site can increase the stability of a
landslide-prone slope. Surface water should be diverted away from
the landslide-prone region by channeling water in a lined drainage
ditch or sewer pipe to the base of the slope. The water should be
diverted in such a way as to avoid triggering a landslide adjacent to
the site. Surface water should not be allowed to pond on the
landslide-prone slope.

Ground water can be drained from the soil using trenches filled with
gravel and perforated pipes or pumped water wells. Swimming pools,
water lines, and sewers should be maintained to prevent leakage,
and the watering of lawns and vegetation should be kept to a
minimum. Clayey soils and shales have low hydraulic conductivity
and can be difficult to drain.
REMIDIALMEASURES
 EXCAVATING THE HEAD:

Removing the soil and rock at the head of the landslide decreases the
driving pressure and can slow or stop a landslide. Additional soil and rock
above the landslide will need to be removed to prevent a new landslide from
forming upslope. Flattening the slope angle at the top of the hill can help
stabilize landslide-prone slopes.

 BUTTRESSING THE TOE:

If the toe of the landslide is at the base of the slope, fill can be placed over
the toe and along the base of the slope. The fill increases the resisting forces
along the failure surface in the toe area. This, in turn, blocks the material in
the head from moving toward the toe. However, if the toe is higher on the
slope, adding fill would overload the soil and rock below the toe, thus
causing a landslide to form downslope of the fill.
 REMIDIALMEASURES
 CONSTRUCTING PILES AND RETAINING WALLS:

Piles are metal beams that are either driven into the soil or placed in drill holes.
Properly placed piles should extend into a competent rock layer below the landslide.
Wooden beams and telephone poles are not recommended for use as piles
because they lack strength and can rot.

Because landslides can ooze through the gaps between the piles, retaining walls
are often constructed. Retaining walls can be constructed by adding lagging (metal,
concrete, or wooden beams) horizontally between the piles. Such walls can be
further strengthened by adding tiebacks and buttressing beams (fig. 5). Tiebacks are
long rods that attach to the piles and to a competent rock layer below the ground
surface. Buttressing beams are placed at an angle downslope of the piles to prevent
the piles from toppling or tilting. Retaining walls also are constructed of concrete,
cinder blocks, rock, railroad ties, or logs, but these may not be strong enough to
resist landslide movement and could topple.
REMIDIALMEASURES
 REMOVAL AND REPLACEMENT:

Landslide-prone soil and rock can be removed and replaced with stronger
materials, such as silty or sandy soils. Because weathering of shales can
form landslide-prone soils, the removal and replacement procedure must
include measures to prevent continued weathering of the remaining rock.
Landslide material should never be pushed back up the slope. This will
simply lead to continued motion of the landslide.

 PRESERVING VEGETATION:

Trees, grasses, and vegetation can minimize the amount of water

infiltrating into the soil, slow the erosion caused by surface-water flow, and
remove water from the soil. Although vegetation alone cannot prevent or
stop a landslide, removal of vegetation from a landslide-prone slope may
initiate a landslide.
REMIDIALMEASURES
 ROCK FALL PROTECTION:

Rock falls are contained by (1) ditches at the base of the rock
exposure, (2) heavy-duty fences, and (3) concrete catch
walls that slow errant boulders that have broken free from the
rock outcrop. In some cases, loose blocks of rock are
attached to bedrock with rock bolts, long metal rods that are
anchored in competent bedrock and are threaded on the
outside for large nuts. A metal plate with a center hole, like a
very large washer, is placed over the end of the rod where it
extends from the loose block, and the nut is then added and
tightened. Once constructed, remedial measures must be
inspected and maintained. Lack of maintenance can cause
renewed landslide movement.