SLOPE DESIGN

Developed by Helen Connolly, now maintained by David

Toll (d.g.toll@durham.ac.uk)
Please reference: Connolly H. (1997) World Wide Web Pages for Slope
Design, MEng final year project report, School of Engineering: University of
Durham, pp 43.

INTRODUCTION
These pages were developed by Helen Connolly, a final year student of the MEng
degree at Durham University in 1997. She undertook the role of setting up this WWW
site as a reference guide on Slope Design, to be used by other undergraduate students
in the university or further afield. The following pages explain the principles of slope
design, including types of instability related to groundwater conditions and ground
types. They include text and graphics and also some interactive elements.

The structure is such that a "preferred route" through the pages is shown, with the link
words (in blue) leading to a more in depth discussion on that particular subject, or to
another relevant source of information.The "back" function will then return the
browser to the previous page. At any stage this "route " may be left (the big advantage
of the WWW!), allowing the browser to look specifically into a desired area in more
detail. At the bottom of each page there is an icon returning the browser back to the
"home page".

There is also a feedback form included, and I would be very grateful if you would
take the time (just a few minutes!) to fill it in once you have used the site for your
desired purpose. This will give me useful informtaion from YOU, the user, so
improvements and alterations can be made in the future. If you have any additional
comments on this, or anything else related to this site, please email David Toll who
now maintains the site.

If you do make use of the site please give credit to Helen's hard work by referencing
the site. Thanks and enjoy the site.......

Reference: Connolly H. (1997) World Wide Web Pages for Slope Design, MEng final
year project report, School of Engineering: University of Durham, pp 43.
 INTRODUCTION TO SLOPES:-
Thinking about the stability of either new slopes formed by earthworks, or of naturally
occuring slopes, is of great and obvious importance in the field of civil and
geotechnical engineering. When constructing for example railways, highways, canals
and excavations, analysis of related slopes must be carried out and possibly remedial
work done to the slope. This is also true of embankments formed as earth dams or
waste tips.

NATURAL:
The routes by which a natural (not man-made) slope has reached its present state may
be split into two main categories:-

Those which are made up of a series of long-term processes, many of which are
still active,
Those which are made up of processes which act for a short duration, so much
fewer active processses carry on at present.

This second category of slope takes much more investigation to discern the original
cause of slope formation, and an understanding of these processes is essential for a
successful engineering investigation, and to know how to deal with problems of
instability which may arise.

EXCAVATED SLOPES
It is critical to pay attention to the pore water pressures as they tend to increase over
time. This means that cheap, undrained shear strength tests are only useful if looking
at very short term stability.

The geological sequence and history must be known so we are sure if there are
existing tectonic shears.

Excavations are more susceptible to the effects of tectonic shears than embankments
because embankments raise the normal effective stresses on potential sliding surfaces,
and these offset the increased levels of shear stress they impose.

SLOPES OF EMBANKMENTS AND EARTH DAMS

Embankments are constructed by placing and compacting successive layers of a fill
material onto a foundation soil. Construction causes the total stress in the
embankment layers themselves, and also in the foundation soil, to increase. The initial
pore water pressure (uo) depends primarily on the placement water content of the fill.

At the end of construction of an embankment, the Factor of Safety is lower than in the
long term. This is because water dissipates after the end of construction, with the pore
water pressure decreasing to the final, long term value. This assumes the permeability
of the compacted fill layers is low, so not much dissipation takes place during
construction. The construction period is usually quite short.

Stability may also depend on the shear strength of the foundation soil.

Embankment (Earth) Dams

(see also Andrew Graham's site on Dam Design)

These are used where concrete dams are unsuitable due to abutment or foundation
conditions. Suitable materials for the fill need to be accessible and close at hand.

A thorough Ground Investigation is vital before planning to construct an earth dam.

Importance must be placed on examing the "cut and fill" areas - we need to know the
quality and quantitty of the material available.

The structure of these dams is not homogeneous, but "zoned", having a low
permeability soil core, with shoulders of other material on each side. There is usually
a layer of "rip-rap" (rockfill), on the upstream slope surface to prevent wave damage.
Usually an internal drainage system is included in the dam.

Failure of the dam could arise from instability of either the upstream or downstream
slope, so it is important that careful design of the slope angles is undertaken. Over-
conservative design is undesirable as it results in excess material being used, thus
raising expense.

Failure may also arise from internal erosion or erosion of the crest and the
downstream slope from overtopping.

The Factors of Safety to be designed for are:-

(1) The most critical stage for the upstream slope; at the end of construction and
during rapid drawdown of the level in the reservoir.
(2) The most critical stage for the downstream slope; at the end of construction and
during steady seepage when the resevoir is full.

Often there will be a Piezometer system installed for the purpose of measuring the
actual pore water pressures and comparing them with those used in design. These
values are influential in the Factors of Safety of the slopes.

For reasons discussed earlier (relating to porewater pressures), the majority of slope
failures in embankment dams take place either during, or just at the end of,
construction.

An "effective stress analysis" method is most suitable here. A "total stress" method
would result in over-conservative design, because the construction period although
short, will probably allow some dissipation of water.

FALLS
These can occur in either soil or rock masses, and usually occur on extremely steep
slopes.

A fall is characterised by the moving material being completely separated from the
ground over which it travels. The material may only make contact with the ground a
few times before coming to rest. The falling material will break up, either on impact
or while in motion, resulting in debris which lies at the bottom of the slope.
Debris from one fall will be reactivated easily by more movement, so "joins in" when
a subsequent fall occurs.

Falls may arise due to:

Gravity stresses leading to shear surfaces.

Undermining of a slope (due to wave action, river erosion or careless
excavation etc.), allowing the development of unstable overhangs.
Progressive weakening of a cliff unit (perhaps by weathering), causing a block
to rotate and become unstable, resulting in toppling.
Water effects in a joint-bounded mass of rocks. These could be due to ice
particles blocking the natural water outlets, so they force large thrusts on the
blocks, destabilising them, or the water in the joints itself freezing. These
forces may even be able to rupture unjointed rocks. Unfrozen water in the joints
will also have a large effect.
Temperature changes in dry areas. These changes open and close the rock
joints, allowing small pieces of debris to fall into them and prevent closure.
Seismic shocks which dislodge debris.
 SLIDES:
These can occur over much more shallow slopes than falls. The dislocated material
mostly stays in contact with the ground surface while moving.

Slides may arise due to:

A block bounded by joints may be pushed by forces from water in the joints,
and the block then slides down intersecting joint-planes or along a steep joint or
bedding plane. This action may begin as a slide and develop into a fall.
Shear surfaces may form within the soil or rock body, with slides occuring
along these surfaces. The surfaces will often be similar to a circle arc, but may
have a flat bottom. The resulting slides will
be rotational, translational or compound
Mudslides sometimes take place when there is much rainwater present to
infiltrate the soil. These are likely to occur as secondary slides, where some
form of slide has already taken place. Mudslides are described in "The Stability
of Slopes" by E. Bromhead (pg 7) as "slides of debris at a high water content."

FLOWS:
A flow is a movement of a mass of soil which involves a much greater internal
deformation then a slide.
In a cohesive, clay soil, the moisture content of the soil must be above the
liquid limit, otherwise the movement is a slide. In this case the material
behaves as a fluid.
This is not the case for non-cohesive, granular soils, where flows can even
take place in dry soil.
Mudflows have the ability to move over slopes of very small angle of steepness
(<1o), and are also often characterised by high speeds of movement (around 10
to 103 m/min).
It is common understanding that if a mass movement is very rapid but has
arisen from large amounts of water being allowed access to debris covered
slopes, then the movement is more like "mass-transport" rather than "mass-
movement" so the movement would not be termed a flow.
 INTRODUCTION TO SLOPE INSTABILITY:-
Types of Slope Failure:
Rotational:
This type of failure surface may be either circular or non-circular.

Translational:
Compound: