Slope Stability: Civil Engineering Dept

Civil
Engineering
.Dept
Slope Stability
Chapter (15)
Dr. Jehad Hamad
2019-2018
Types of slopes
• Natural : Formation due to geological
features of the earth
• Man made: Construction activity like

cutting, filling etc
Introduction
• Why do we need to understand the

slope failures?
Why to understand slopes?
• Failure of natural slopes (landslides) and man-made
slopes have resulted in much death and destruction
• Civil Engineers are expected to check the safety of

natural and slopes of excavation.
• Slope stability analysis consists of determining and

comparing the shear stress developed along the
potential rupture surface with the shear strength of the
soil.
• Attention has to be paid to geology, surface drainage,

groundwater, and the shear strength of soils in
assessing slope stability.
Slope Failure Triggering Mechanisms
• Intense Rain-Fall
• Water-Level Change
• Seepage Water Flow
• Volcanic Eruption
• Earthquake Shaking
• Human activity
Causes of Slope
• Erosion: failure
The wind and flowing water causes erosion of top
surface of slope and makes the slope steep and thereby increase the
tangential component of driving force.
• Steady Seepage: Seepage forces in the sloping direction add to
gravity forces and make the slope susceptible to instability. The
pore water pressure decrease the shear strength. This condition is
critical for the downstream slope.
• Sudden Drawdown: in this case there is reversal in the direction
flow and results in instability of side slope. Due to sudden
drawdown the shear stresses are more due to saturated unit weight
while the shearing resistance decreases due to pore water pressure
that does not dissipate quickly.
• Rainfall: Long periods of rainfall saturate, soften, and erode
soils. Water enters into existing cracks and may weaken underlying
soil layers, leading to failure, for example, mud slides.
Causes of Slope failure ….
• Earthquakes: They induce dynamic shear
forces. In addition there is sudden buildup of pore
water pressure that reduces available shear
strength.
• External Loading: Additional loads placed on
top of the slope increases the gravitational forces
that may cause the slope to fail.
• Construction activities at the toe of the slope:
Excavation at the bottom of the sloping surface
will make the slopes steep and there by increase the
gravitational forces which may result in slope
• An exposed ground surface that stands at an
angle (b) with the horizontal is called slope.
• construction of highway and railway

• Embankments
• earth dams
• levees and canals.
Types of Slopes
Infinite Slopes Finite Slopes
• They have dimensions that • A finite slope is one with a base
extend over great distances and and top surface, the height
the soil mass is inclined to the being limited.
horizontal. • The inclined faces of earth
dams, embankments and
excavation and the like are all
finite slopes.
Slope stability
Types of Slopes:
1. Infinite slopes
2. Finite earth slopes
Types of Failure:
Factor of Safety:
Method of Analysis:
• Swedish Arc Method
• Standard Method of Slices
• Bishop’s Method
• Taylor’s Stability Number
• Stability of Slopes of Earth Dams under
Different Conditions
11
12
13
Factor of safety
FOS = Available Shear Strength

Mobilizied Shear Strength
FOS can be expressed in several ways :

i) General.
ii) With respect to cohesion.
iii) With respect to friction.
Slope Stability by Dr. Amizatulhani Abdullah

General factor of safety
f
Fs  where :
d
Fs = factor of safety with respect to strength

f = average shear strength of the soil
d = average shear stress developed along the potential failure surface

Factor of safety with respect to cohesion
Factor of safety with respect to friction

17
Infinite slope vs finite slope
Infinite slope Finite slope
• Slope which have great • Any slope with limited
extent with uniform soil height.
conditions at any given depth • Eg: slope of embankments,
below the surface. cuts etc.
• The soil stratum is not
necessary homogenous with
depth but the strata of
different soils are parallel to
the slope surface.

L
d
a
F
b W
23
Stability of infinite slopes
Stability without seepage

c' tan  '
Fs  
H cos  tan  tan 
2
c' 1
H cr 
 cos 2  (tan   tan  ' )

Stability with seepage
c'  ' tan  '
Fs  
 sat H cos  tan   sat tan 
2
Infinite slope with steady state seepage (Das, 2002)

Work example 1
An infinite slope is shown below. There is ground
water seepage and the ground water table
coincides with the ground surface. Determine the
factor of safety, Fs.

End of infinite slopes
Definition of Key Terms
• Slip or failure zone: It is a thin zone of soil that
reaches the critical state or residual state and results in
movement of the upper soil mass.
• Slip plane or failure plane or slip surface or
failure surface: It is the surface of sliding.
• Sliding mass: It is the mass of soil within the slip
plane
and the ground surface.
• Slope angle : It is the angle of inclination of a slope to
the horizontal.
• The slope angle is sometimes referred to as a ratio, for
example, 2:1 (horizontal: vertical).
41
43
45

Slope Stability: Civil Engineering Dept

Uploaded by

Slope Stability: Civil Engineering Dept

Uploaded by

Civil

Dr. Jehad Hamad

• Man made: Construction activity like

• Why do we need to understand the

• Civil Engineers are expected to check the safety of

• Slope stability analysis consists of determining and

• Attention has to be paid to geology, surface drainage,

• construction of highway and railway

FOS = Available Shear Strength

FOS can be expressed in several ways :

Slope Stability by Dr. Amizatulhani Abdullah

Fs = factor of safety with respect to strength

Slope Stability by Dr. Amizatulhani Abdullah

Factor of safety with respect to friction

Slope Stability by Dr. Amizatulhani Abdullah

Slope Stability by Dr. Amizatulhani Abdullah

Stability without seepage

Slope Stability by Dr. Amizatulhani Abdullah

Infinite slope with steady state seepage (Das, 2002)

Slope Stability by Dr. Amizatulhani Abdullah

Slope Stability by Dr. Amizatulhani Abdullah

You might also like