Slope Stability Analysis

Prepared By
Umair Shafique
 Introduction
Slope stability problems have been faced throughout
history when men and women or nature has disrupted
the delicate balance of natural soil slopes.
A variety of engineering activities require excavation of
rock cuts. In civil engineering, projects include
transportation systems such as highways and railways,
dams for power production and water supply, and
industrial and urban development.
This increased the need to understand analytical
methods, investigative tools, and stabilization methods
to solve slope stability problems.
 Introduction
An understanding of
Geology
Hydrology
soil properties is central to applying slope stability
principles properly.
Analyses must be based upon a model that
accurately represents site subsurface conditions,
ground behavior, and applied loads.
Judgments regarding acceptable risk or safety
factors must be made to assess the results of
analyses.
 AIMS OF SLOPE STABILITY ANALYSIS
In most applications, the primary purpose of slope
stability analysis is to contribute to the safe and economic
design of excavations, embankments, earth dams and
landfills.
The aims of slope stability analyses are:
To understand the development and form of natural
slopes and the processes responsible for different natural
features.
 To assess the stability of slopes under short-term (often
during construction) and long-term conditions.
To assess the possibility of landslides involving natural or
existing engineered slopes.
To analyze landslides and to understand failure
mechanisms and the influence of environmental factors.
To enable the redesign of failed slopes and the planning
and design of preventive and remedial measures, where
necessary.
To study the effect of seismic loadings on slopes and
embankments.
The analysis of slopes takes into account a variety of
factors relating to topography, geology, and material
properties, often relating to whether the slope was
naturally formed or engineered.
Influence of geological conditions on
stability of rock cuts
• (a) potentially unstable—
discontinuities “daylight”
in face
• (b) stable slope—face
excavated parallel to
discontinuities
• (c) stable slope—
discontinuities dip into
face
• (d) toppling failure of thin
beds dipping steeply into
face
• (e) weathering of shale
beds undercuts strong
sandstone beds to form
overhangs
• (f) potentially shallow
circular failure in closely
fractured, weak rock.
 Slope
A slope is defined as an earth
mass natural or manmade,
whose surface form an angle
with horizontal surface. It may
be in cut or fill.
Modes of slope failure
Three modes of failure are
identified:
Slope failure
Toe failure
Base or foundation failure
 Slope failure
The slope or face failure are
special cases of slope failures in
which hard strata limit the extent
of the failure plane.
In this case the rupture plane
passes through a point above the
toe.
Toe failure
Rupture surface or failure surface
passing through the toe of the
slope.
In case of steep slopes and in case
of soil mass which is
homogeneous above and below
the base.
 Base or foundation failure
Rupture surface or
failure surface
passing through the
base or below the
toe.
Base failure usually
develops in soft
clays.
 Types of Slopes
i. Types w.r.t method of construction:
a. Natural slope
b. Manmade / Engineered slopes
ii. Types w.r.t extent of slope:
a. Infinite slope
b. Finite slope
iii. Types w.r.t material of slope:
a. Slope of cohesionless soil
b. Slope of cohesive soil
iv. Types w.r.t method of construction
a. Natural slope: Natural slopes are those which exist in
nature and are formed by natural process. Hill or
mountain
b. Manmade slopes / Finite slopes: Manmade slopes are
those which are made by engineers for specific
purpose. Embankments for roads, rivers, and earth fill
dams.
v. Types w.r.t extent of slope
a. Infinite slopes: Which has a constant slope of infinite
extent. Slope of long face of mountain. Generally the
natural slopes are classified as infinite slopes.
b. Finite Slopes: On the other hand slopes of finite height
are termed as finite slopes, man made slopes of the
embankments.
 Cohesionless Slopes
Cohesionless soils generally consist of relatively clean
sands and gravels that remain pervious when
compacted. These soils are represented by Unified
Classification System soil groups SW, SP, GW, GP.
During the compaction process, compacted
cohesionless soils are not affected significantly by
water content because they are relatively pervious.
The loose or dense state of cohesionless soils is
usually judged by relative density as defined by
Terzaghi. Typical ranges of relative density of sand are
0 < Dr < 1 /3 Loose sand
1 /3 < Dr < 2 /3 Medium dense sand
2 /3 < Dr < 1 Dense sand
 Cohesive Fills
• Cohesive soils consist of those that contain
sufficient quantities of silt and clay to render the
soil mass relatively impermeable when properly
compacted.
• Unlike compacted cohesion less soils, whose
physical properties are generally improved by
compaction to the maximum dry unit density, the
physical properties of cohesive soils are not
necessarily improved by compaction to a maximum
unit density.
• For example, the strength of compacted silty clay
decreases with increasing molding water content
(Seed and Chan, 1959).
 Stability of slopes
A slope is said to be stable if it meets a
prescribed need for a fix period of time with a
suitable safety factor.
FOS = Resisting force / Disturbing force
FOS = shear strength / shear stress
If FS > 1.0 it shows the stable slope
If FS < 1.0 it shows the slope failure
Factors affecting the stability of slope
Cohesion of the slopes
Angle of internal friction
Unit weight
Height of the slope
Angle of the slope
Vegetation
Climate
 Causes of slope instability
Gravitational force or weight of soil wedge
Force due to the seepage of water
Due to erosion of slope surface
Sudden draw down adjacent to a slope
Forces due to earthquakes
Reduction of shear strength of soils
 Gravitational Force
Gravity causes the downward and outward
movement of landslides and the collapse of
subsiding ground.
Eventually it will flatten all slopes.
The force of gravity is the mass of a body x the
sine of the slope.
It can remove the initial resistance to motion
the body will move.
Earthquake, heavy rain could give initial energy
 Role of water
 Sediments have high porosities. When these void spaces are filled
with water the sediment is much heavier and the driving mass
increased.
 Water fills voids and increase weight which increases driving
forces
 Water also exerts pore pressures which decrease effective stress
and therefore strength.
 Water can physically erode loose material creating caverns.
 Pressure builds up in water trapped in the pores of sediments
being buried deeper and deeper. Sediments can compress but
water does not compress. Get abnormally high pore-water
pressures which “jacks up” the sediment and makes it very easy to
move.
 Water flowing through rocks can dissolve the minerals that bind
the rocks together. The removal of the cement makes the rock
easier to move or a slope easier to collapse.
 Stabilization Methods
Selection Criteria
Subsurface conditions & potential modes of failure
The present & required topography
Physical constraints – property lines or buildings
Consequences of failure
Availability of materials, equipment, & expertise
Local performance history
Aesthetics
Time required for construction
Cost
 Remedial measures
Remedial measures can be divided into four
catagories:
1. Changes the slope geometry
a. Benching of slope
b. Flattening of slope angle
c. Decreasing the slope height
d. Providing the counter weight at the toe of the
slope
2. Seepage and groundwater control
3. Constructing retaining structures
4. Soil stabilization techniques
 Changing slope geometry
a. Reduce slope height by
excavation at top of slope
b. Flatten the slope angle
c. Excavate a bench in upper part of
slope.
Limitations: Area has to be accessible to construction
equipment. Disposal site needed for excavated soil.
Drainage sometimes incorporated in this method.
Changing slope geometry

d. Compacted earth or rock

berm placed at and beyond
the toe. Drainage may be
provided behind berm.

e. Protection Against Erosion

Provided at Toe
 Scaling
Scaling is the process of removing loose or
potentially unstable material that might
dislodge (remove) or affect the trajectory
of falling rock by creating a launching
point for material falling from above.
a. Hand Scaling
b. Mechanical Scaling
c. Trim Blasting
-smooth blasting techniques.
-requires drilling equipment and
explosives.
 Seepage and groundwater control
• Lowering of GWT to
Reduce the Pore
Pressures
• Drainage of Slopes
 Constructing retaining structures
a. Constructing
retaining walls near
the toe of the slope
b. Installing drilled inplace
retaining piles
i. Drilled, cast-in-placed
vertical piles, founded
well below bottom of
slide plane. Generally 18
to 36 inches in diameter
and 4 to 8 foot spacing.
ii. Drilled-cast in-place vertical
piles tied back, with
battered(inclined). Piles
founded well below slide
plane. Generally, 12 to 30
inches in diameter and at 4
to 8 foot spacing
c. Providing earth and rock anchors and
rock bolts
• Can be used for high slopes,
and in very restricted areas.
• Conservative design should be used,
especially for permanent support.
• Use may be essential for slopes in rocks
where joints dip toward excavation,
and such joints daylight in the slope.
d. Debris Fences
• Debris fences can be designed to absorb the kinetic
impacts of either rockfalls or debris flows.
• Ring net barriers were originally developed for use
as underwater antisubmarine nets during the
Second World War, by Allied and Axis powers
e. A-Walls
• A-wall diversion structures are intended to deflect fluid
debris and route it around high value structures
• There must be some accommodation for storage of the
deflected debris, either in streets, a basin, or channel
reach below the structure
f. Growing vegetation up to certain limit
 Use of reinforced earth

a. Geomembranes
b. Geogrid
c. Geocell d. Geonet
 Other techniques
• Grouting
• Shotcrete (Cement or lime)
Grouting process and principle
 Types of failures

Plane failure
Wedge failure
Toppling failure
Circular failure