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Slope Stability

Slope stability is important for both natural and man-made slopes. There are two types of slopes: infinite slopes that extend indefinitely, and finite slopes that are limited in extent such as earth dams. Slope stability depends on factors like gravitational forces, water pressure, and erosion. Failure can be caused by adding weight to the top of a slope, increasing the slope angle, removing material from the base, rising groundwater, weathering, or earthquakes. Stability is analyzed by calculating the factor of safety, which is the ratio of resisting shear forces to driving shear forces along a potential failure surface. Infinite slope stability depends only on the soil friction angle, while finite slope analysis uses methods that consider trial failure surfaces and rotational forces.

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Ahmed Moheb
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96 views11 pages

Slope Stability

Slope stability is important for both natural and man-made slopes. There are two types of slopes: infinite slopes that extend indefinitely, and finite slopes that are limited in extent such as earth dams. Slope stability depends on factors like gravitational forces, water pressure, and erosion. Failure can be caused by adding weight to the top of a slope, increasing the slope angle, removing material from the base, rising groundwater, weathering, or earthquakes. Stability is analyzed by calculating the factor of safety, which is the ratio of resisting shear forces to driving shear forces along a potential failure surface. Infinite slope stability depends only on the soil friction angle, while finite slope analysis uses methods that consider trial failure surfaces and rotational forces.

Uploaded by

Ahmed Moheb
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Slope Stability

Slopes of earth are of two types


1. Natural slopes
2. Man made slopes

Natural slopes are those that exist in nature and are formed by natural causes. Such slopes exist in
hilly areas.

The sides of cuttings, the slopes of embankments constructed for roads, railway lines, canals etc. and
the slopes of earth dams constructed for storing water are examples of man-made slopes.

The slopes whether natural or artificial may be


1. Infinite slopes
2. Finite slopes

The term infinite slope is used to designate a constant slope of infinite extent.

The long slope of the face of a mountain is an example of this type, whereas finite
slopes are limited in extent.

The slopes of embankments and earth dams are examples of finite slopes. The slope
length depends on the height of the dam or embankment.
Slope Stability:
Slope stability is an extremely important consideration in the design and construction of earth dams.
The stability of a natural slope is also important. The results of a slope
failure can often be terrible, involving the loss of considerable property and many lives.

Causes of Failure of Slopes:


The important factors that cause instability in a slope and lead to failure are
1. Gravitational force
2. Force due to seepage water
3. Erosion of the surface of slopes due to flowing water
Natural slopes may fail due to :
1. Change the stress by
a) Adding loads at the top of the slope
b) Increasing the angle of slope
c) Excavating at the toe of the slope
2. Increase of pore water pressure by rainfall or rise of ground water table
3. Decreases shear strength of soil due to weathering factors, migration of fine particles by seepage
water
4. Dynamic effect of earthquake explosions or pile driving
Factor of safety in slope stability analysis

The factor of safety in slope stability analysis is defined as the ratio between average
resistance shear force along the critical slip plane to the sum of components of those
forces acting on the slope , along the critical slip plane.
f c   tan 
Fs  
 d c d   tan  d

Where τf = shear strength of the soil


τd = shear stress developed along the potential failure surface

Stability Analysis of Infinite Slopes


Stability Analysis of Infinite Slopes in Sand without seepage

Imagine an infinite slope, as shown in Figure making an angle β with the


horizontal.

The soil is cohesionless and completely homogeneous.

Then the stresses acting on any vertical plane in the soil are the same as
those on any other vertical plane.

The stress at any point on a plane EF parallel to the surface at depth z will
be the same as at every point on this plane.

The forces acting on this slice are its weight W, a vertical reaction R on the
base of the slice, and two lateral forces P1 acting on the sides.
c tan 
FS  
H cos2  tan  tan 
For granular soils, c = 0

tan 
FS 
tan 
This indicates that in an infinite slope in sand, the value of Fs is independent
of height H, and the slope is stable as long as β ‹ Φ

If a soil possesses cohesion and friction, the depth of the plane along
which critical equilibrium occurs may be determined by substituting FS = 1
and H = Hcr

c 1
H cr  .
 cos2  tan   tan  )
Stability Analysis of Infinite Slopes in Sand with seepage

c   tan 
FS   .
 sat H cos  tan   sat tan 
2

Stability Analysis of finite Slopes


Methods of analysis of finite slopes are :
1- The Circular Arc Method
2- The Method Of Slices
3- The Friction Circle Method
4- Wedge Method
5- Taylor's Stability Method
The Circular Arc Method
W= The weight of sliding wedge
X = distance from CG to the centre of rotation O
MD = driving moment = w . x
MR= resisting moment = cu . Larc . r
Fs = resisting moment / driving moment
= cu . Larc . r / w . x

Note:
For each trial centre of rotation, calculate F for several failure surfaces with different R
and take the least F calculated as F at this point
Minimum Factor of Safety
It is necessary to analyze the slope for a number of trial surfaces in order
that the minimum factor of safety can be obtained

Effect of tension crack


Example:

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