Geo-E2010

Advanced Soil Mechanics L

Wojciech Soowski

14 March 2017
Slope stability
Slope Stability: to learn
- slope stability is one of the most important
problems you will face regularly
- understand the costs & risks associated with
slope stability
- some ideas and general understanding of the
problem, understanding how the solutions are
usually made and why they not always work

Department of Civil Engineering

Advanced Soil Mechanics. W. Soowski
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Slope Stability: today
- some case histories

- slope failure types

- hand calculations methods

- for purely cohesive soils
- method of slices (various)

- computer aided calculations

Department of Civil Engineering

Advanced Soil Mechanics. W. Soowski
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Slope Stability

generally, the shear strength is what is important is

slope stability
(unless one is interested in deformations)

hence we can use methods based on limit analysis

Department of Civil Engineering

Advanced Soil Mechanics. W. Soowski
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 Department of Civil Engineering
Advanced Soil Mechanics. W. Soowski
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Case 1: Bingham Canyon Mine (USA)
On 11 of April 2013, around 9:30 p.m.

Department of Civil Engineering

Advanced Soil Mechanics. W. Soowski
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Case 1: Bingham Canyon Mine (USA)
On 11 of April 2013, around 9:30 p.m.

Department of Civil Engineering

Advanced Soil Mechanics. W. Soowski
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Case 1: Bingham Canyon Mine (USA)
On 11 of April 2013, around 9:30 p.m.

Department of Civil Engineering

Advanced Soil Mechanics. W. Soowski
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Case 1: Bingham Canyon Mine
Perhaps largest human induced slide in history...
- no casualties (they had monitoring, evacuated
workers once they see that slide may occur
- cost...
770 000 000 $ (lower bound estimate, just
for 2013 )

1 000 000 000 $ (current estimate)

- extreme cost even for Rio Tinto

- 900 m height, 10s of mln of m3 volume

Department of Civil Engineering

Advanced Soil Mechanics. W. Soowski
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Case 2: Jiama gold mine (Tibet)
2013, 83 deaths
3.5 mln m3 volume
700 m height

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Advanced Soil Mechanics. W. Soowski
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Case 3: Vajont reservoir & landslide 1963
Reservoir (left)
and
Town of Langarone (below)
(Italy)

Rapid landslide into

reservoir, 100m high wave
was a result.
Dam remained mainly
undamaged

Department of Civil Engineering

Advanced Soil Mechanics. W. Soowski
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Case 3: Vajont reservoir & landslide 1963
Before (left) and

after (below) the slide

Rapid landslide into

reservoir, 100m high wave
was a result.
Dam remained mainly
undamaged

Department of Civil Engineering

Advanced Soil Mechanics. W. Soowski
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Case 3: Vajont reservoir & landslide 1963
2500
casualties

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Advanced Soil Mechanics. W. Soowski
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Failures

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Failure types 1 Craig

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Failure types 2 Atkinson

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Progressive or successive failure, Broms

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Effect of mobilization degree

Peak Critical
q strength state
Residual
strength
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Standard calculations / design
Limit analysis solutions

- if undrained, we use undrained cohesion

- if drained (e.g. sand), friction angle
analysis
- rarely we can take into account both that
requires solution for long term, slow failure
cohesive soil. Usually short term is decisive.
However, we should check the long term
stability too

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 Questions to answer
Why limit analysis has been used so much?
What is the principle of limit analysis methods for slope
stability. How do they work? Why?
What are the issues with limit analysis method for slope
stability?
What are the issues with the methods using stripes?
General idea about remediation
+ extra materials: Watch the Bolton Seed Lecture
Slope stability computations by S.G. Wright

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_6aOU7msBM

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Standard calculations / design
Limit analysis solutions
A failure line of simple shape (circular, planar,
log-spiral) is assumed
Overall equilibrium is imposed (equilibrium of
wedges)
Stress-strain relationships and compatibility are
disregarded

Because we ignore compatibility,

we get a upper bound solution.
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 Calculations
d

ALL DESIGN VALUES!

Weight of soil inside slip circle = W (acting through the centre of
gravity). Length of slip circle = R Taking moments about O:
Overturning moment = shear resistance moment

cu R 2
Wd =cu R 2
SF = SF =
shear resistance moment
Wd overturning moment
 Method of Slices
It may be difficult to calculate the weight W of the soil
enclosed within the slip surface and the position of the
centre of gravity.

For any slice, the overturning moment due to the weight W is

given by WR sin (where W = h b ). So the total is
i =n
M = R W sin
i =1 24
 Method of Slices

The resistance is unchanged and equal to Rcu

Hence the limit is: i =n
R 2cu = R W sin
i =1

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Tension crack

Characteristic
2cu
d = zc = values!

 Submerged slopes

The restoring moment due to water pressure on the

submerged slope must be taken into account. This can
be done by simply replacing the bulk unit weight of the soil
with the buoyant unit weight below the water level, i.e.
below the line A-B in Figure 2.7 27
 Drained analysis

' varies along the slip surface, will also vary

(c+ tan )l
= (c+ tan ) SF =
W sin 28
Drained analysis
The forces (per unit dimension
into page) acting on a slice are:
The total weight of the slice, W =
bh (use appropriate value of )
The normal force on the base,
N = l
In general, this force has two
components, the effective normal force,
N = l and the boundary water force, U
= ul, where u is the pore water pressure
at the centre of the base and l is the
length of the base of the slice.

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Drained analysis
The forces (per unit dimension
into page) acting on a slice are
(continues):
The shear force on the base,
T = l
The total normal forces on the
sides, E1 and E2
The shear forces on the sides,
X1 and X2

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 Drained analysis
Equations Condition

A 2n force equilibrium in two directions for each slice

B n moment equilibrium for each slice
C
n Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion
4n total number of equations

Unknowns Description
D 1 factor of safety
E n normal force at the base of each slice, Pi
F
n location of normal forces at the base of slices
G
H n shear force at the base of each slice, Si
I n-1 interslice horizontal force, Ei
L n-1 interslice vertical force, Ti
n-1 location of interslice forces (line of thrust) hi
6n-2 total number of unknowns

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 Drained analysis
In Bishop's simplified method, the resultant
interslice forces are assumed to be horizontal
(recommended in EC7)

In the method by Fellenius (Swedish method), the

resultant interslice forces are assumed to be zero.
(not recommended)
Other methods: Morgenstern & Price (1965) and
Spencer (1967)

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 Drained analysis

When do you need to use more rigorous

methods?

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 Drained analysis
Calculation of FoS with the most complex
methods of slices: a graphical explanation

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 Finite Element Method

Of course now, we can do analysis

properly both with limit analysis
(numerical) as well as advanced elasto-
plastic soil models using FEM

-- next course

Currently the stripes methods are becoming obsolete

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 Finite Element Method

Of course now, we can do analysis

properly both with limit analysis
(numerical) as well as advanced elasto-
plastic soil models using FEM

-- next course

Currently the stripes methods are becoming obsolete

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 Finite Element Method
Currently the stripes methods are becoming obsolete
but are integrated into computer codes. Leads to lots
of troubles see Bolton Seed Lecture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_6aOU7msBM

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Finite Element Method

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 Bibliography
Bishop A. W. 1955. The use of the slip circle in the stability analysis of slopes. Gotechnique,
5(1), pp. 7-17.
Bromhead E. N., 1992. The stability of slopes. 2nd edition. By Blackie Academic & Professional.
Chen Z. and Li S. 1998. Evaluation of active earth pressure by the generalized method of slices.
Can. Geotech. J., 35(4), pp. 591-599.
Chen Z. and Morgenstern N. R. 1983. Extensions to the generalized method of slices for stability
analysis. Can. Geotech. J., 20(1), pp. 104-119.
Duncan J. M. 1996. State of the art: limit equilibrium and finite-element analysis of slopes. J.
Geotech. Engrg., ASCE, 122(7), pp. 577-596.
Duncan J. M. and Wright S. G. 1980. The accuracy of equilibrium methods of slope stability
analysis. Engrg. Geol., 16(1), pp. 5-17.
Espinoza R. D., Bourdeau P. L., Muhunthan B., 1992b. General purpose program for
computerized slope stability analysis. Proc. 28th Engrg. Geology and Geotech. Engrg. Symp.,
Boise, Idaho, USA, pp. 323-333.
Espinoza R. D., Bourdeau P. L., Muhunthan B., 1994. Unified formulation for analysis of slopes
with general slip surface. J. Geotech. Engrg., ASCE, 120(7), pp. 1185-1204.
Espinoza R. D., Repetto P. C., Muhunthan B., 1992a. A general framework for slope stability
analysis. Gotechnique, 42(4), pp. 603-615.
Fellenius W. 1936. Calculation of the stability of earth dams. Proc. 2nd Congr. Large Dams,
Washington, USA, 4, pp. 445-462.

Fredlund D. G. and Krahn J., 1977. Comparison of slope stability methods of analysis. Can.
Geotech. J., 14(3), pp. 429-439.
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Slope stability:
extra slides
Non-isotropic soil (Slunga 1990)

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Reduction due to anisotropy

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Effect of mobilization degree

Peak Critical
q strength state
Residual
strength
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ADP-method

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 Reduction methods 1

Leroueil et al. 1990

SGY vane test guide

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Reduction methods 2
Finnish Road Administration 1994

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Reduction based on prevailing stress

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 Bibliography
Janbu N., 1954. Application of composite slip surfaces for stability analyses. Proc., European
Conf. on Stability of Earth Slopes, Stockholm, Sweden, 3, pp. 43-49.
Janbu N., 1957. Earth pressures and bearing capacity calculations by generalized procedure of
slices. Proc. 4th Int. Conf. on Soil Mech. and Found. Engng., 2, pp. 207-212.
Krahn J., 2003. The 2001 R.M. Hardy lecture: the limits of limit equilibrium analyses. Can.
Geotech. J., 40(3), pp. 643-660.
Lowe J. and Karafiath L., 1960. Stability of earth dams upon drawdown. Proc., 1st Pan-Am. Conf.
On Soil Mech. and Found. Engrg., Mexico City, Mexico, 2, pp. 537-552.
Morgenstern N. R. and Price V. E., 1965. The analysis of the stability of general slip surfaces.
Gotechnique, 15(1), pp. 79-93.
Morgenstern N. R. and Price V. E., 1967. A numerical method for solving the equations of
stability of general slip surfaces. Computer J., 9, pp. 388-393.
Nash D., 1987. A comparative review of limit equilibrium methods of stability analysis. In: Slope
stability: geotechnical engineering and geomorphology (Chapter 2). M. G. Anderson and K. S.
Richards eds., Wiley edition.
Sarma S. K. and Bhave M. V., 1974. Critical acceleration versus static factor of safety in stability
analysis of earth dams and embankments. Gotechnique, 24(4), pp. 661-665.

Sarma S. K., 1973. Stability analysis of embankments and slopes. Gotechnique, 23(3), pp. 423-
433.
Sarma S. K., 1979. Stability analysis of embankments and slopes. J. Geotech. Engrg. Div.,
ASCE, 105(12), pp. 1511-1524.
Seed H. B. and Sultan A., 1967. Stability analyses for a sloping core embankment. J. Soil Mech.48
and Found. Div., ASCE, 93(SM4), pp. 69-83.
 Bibliography
Slope/w, 2002. Slope/w for slope stability analysis. Version 5. Users guide. Geo-slope Office. By
Geo-slope Int. Ltd., Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Spencer E., 1978. Earth slope subjected to lateral acceleration. J. Geotech. Engng. Div., ASCE,
104(GT12), pp. 1489-1500.

Spencer E., 1967. A method of analysis of the stability of embankments assuming parallel
interslice forces. Gotechnique, 17(1), pp. 11-26.

Whitman R. V. and Bailey W. A., 1967. Use of computers for slope stability analysis. J. Soil
Mech. and Found. Div., ASCE, 93(4), pp. 475-498.

Zhu D. Y., Lee C. F., Jiang H. D., 2003. Generalised framework of limit equilibrium methods for

slope stability analysis. Gotechnique, 53(4), pp. 377-395.

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 The Process of Slope Engineering

Purpose of the
proposed works ?

Establish Ground
Verification Conditions

Care and
competency at Establish Potential
Construction Failure modes
each stage

Establish Ground Model

Specification

Design Analysis

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 Standard calculations -
remediation
Ground model
Details of ground conditions at the site
Physical characteristics of the site
Topography
Hydrology
Details of any history of movement
Back analysis
Monitoring

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53
54
55
56
Establish failure
modes

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Establish failure
modes

58
 Establish failure
modes

Scar/tension
crack

Uneven ground
surface

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 Establish failure
modes

No evidence of crest, Grass on face

face or toe drainage and at crest

Evidence of rabbits Old remedial

measures (sleepers)

Grass, shrubs and small

trees at slope toe, soil Wall at slope toe
appears wetter at the
slope toe

60
 Establish failure
modes

Uneven
ground
surface

Old remedial measures

(sleepers), appear to
have moved
Wall at slope toe

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 Establish failure
modes

Gabion baskets to
contain an previous
Lined crest drain failure
No evidence of
a crest drain

Previous remedial
measures (sleepers)

Wet areas
on slope
face

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 Establish failure
modes

Leaning
stanchio Thick
n layer of
ballast

Scar/tension
crack at
slope crest

Bulging at
slope toe

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Remediation

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Remediation

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Remediation

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Remediation

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Remediation

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Remediation

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 Remediation
Gabion baskets to
contain a previous
Lined crest drain failure
No evidence of
a crest drain

Previous remedial
measures (sleepers)

Wet areas
on slope
face

70
Remediation

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Remediation

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Remediation

73
Remediation

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Thank you