The stability of slopes in soils with nonlinear failure envelopes

1984 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Charles ◽  
M. M. Soares

The failure envelopes of many soils are significantly nonlinear and the effect of this curvature on slope stability is examined. Charts, based on circular arc stability analyses, have been prepared and make possible the rapid assessment of the stability of slopes of simple geometry in uniform soils with curved failure envelopes. The effect on the factor of safety against stability failure of (i) the degree of curvature of the failure envelope of the soil, (ii) the magnitude of the pore pressure ratio within the slope, and (iii) the depth to a hard stratum has been investigated. Key words: depth factor, pore pressure, safety factor, shear strength, slope, stability.

Author(s):  
Karablin Mikhail ◽  
◽  
Prostov Sergei ◽  

Introduction. Pit slope sections directly adjoining hydraulic dumps are characterized by the higher risk of landslide, especially in case of storing dry overburden rock over the hydraulically filled overburden. It is contributed to by the combination of the following factors: increase of the total height of the slope, development within the slope of a waterlogged zone of weakness with complex footprint map and depth configuration; excessive pore pressure within this zone which grows by means of adding dry dump to hydraulically filled rock. To reduce risks connected with man-made soil body slope stability violation, slope stability analysis is carried out based on the results of geological survey, hydrogeological observations and geophysical sounding. Research aims to analyze the stability of the Krasnobrodsky coal pit man-made mass adjoining the Bakhtykhtinsky hydraulic dump based on the 3D geological-geophysical model. Methodology. The authors of the article offered and realized the algorithm of analyzing the stability of slopes based on 3D geological and geophysical models formed by integrating geological, hydrogeological and geophysical data. Results. Based on geological survey data analysis, hydrogeological survey and electric sounding, 3D geological-geophysical model of a man-made soil body adjoining Bakhtykhtinsky hydraulic dump has been built. Slope stability analysis of an actual state of the man-made soil body has been carried out. ISSN 0536-1028 «Известия вузов. Горный журнал», № 5, 2020 55 Summary. In order to develop a 3D geological-geophysical model, in addition to slope geometry, it is necessary to set the boundaries of waterlogged rock in a footprint map and in depth, and monitor pore pressure within this zone. To determine slope section with minimum safety factor it is necessary to carry out cyclic calculation with gradual reduction of approach and design section rotation increment.


2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 799-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhsiung Chang

A three-dimensional (3D) method of analysis of the stability of slopes was developed based on the sliding mechanism observed in the 1988 failure of the Kettleman Hills landfill slope (Kettleman City, California) and the associated model studies. By adopting a limit equilibrium concept, the method assumes the sliding mass as a block system in which the contacts between blocks are inclined. The lines of intersection of the block contacts are assumed to be parallel, which enables the sliding kinematics. In consideration of the differential straining between blocks, the shear stresses on the slip surface and the block contacts are evaluated based on the degree of shear strength mobilization on these contacts. The overall factor of safety is calculated based on the force equilibrium of the individual blocks and the entire block system as well. Based on comparisons with a series of hypothetical 3D and 2D problems with known solutions, the method was generally found to be accurate in predicting the stability of slopes involving a translational type of sliding failure. For rotational sliding failures in clays, however, the method appears to slightly overestimate the calculated factor of safety; up to as much as 10% in a typical problem examined in this study.Key words: slope stability, 3D method, limit equilibrium, block kinematics, strain incompatibility.


1983 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 661-672 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. K. H. Ching ◽  
D. G. Fredlund

Several commonly encountered problems associated with the limit equilibrium methods of slices are discussed. These problems are primarily related to the assumptions used to render the inherently indeterminate analysis determinate. When these problems occur in the stability computations, unreasonable solutions are often obtained. It appears that problems occur mainly in situations where the assumption to render the analysis determinate seriously departs from realistic soil conditions. These problems should not, in general, discourage the use of the method of slices. Example problems are presented to illustrate these difficulties and suggestions are proposed to resolve these problems. Keywords: slope stability, limit equilibrium, method of slices, factor of safety, side force function.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 4046
Author(s):  
Vittoria Capobianco ◽  
Kate Robinson ◽  
Bjørn Kalsnes ◽  
Christina Ekeheien ◽  
Øyvind Høydal

Vegetation can be used as a nature-based solution (NBS) to restore rivers and mitigate water-triggered processes along streambanks. Roots are well known to improve the overall stability of slopes through hydro-mechanical reinforcement within the rooted zone. Vegetation-based solutions require the selection of species that are most suitable for specific locations, and they are aimed at restoring the natural state and function of river systems in support of biodiversity, flood management, and landscape development. Selecting a combination of different species along different zones of the riverbank can improve the conditions for the river system with regard to biodiversity and stability. Therefore, more studies are needed to investigate how the combination of a variety of different plant species can improve the stability of the riverbank. This paper presents a methodological approach for slope stability modeling including vegetation as well as the results obtained from a series of slope stability calculations adopting the proposed methodology. The analyses were carried out for critical shallow (≤3 m deep) shear planes of ideal benchmark slopes covered with four different plant combinations—(i) only grass, (ii) grass and shrubs, (iii) only trees, and (iv) trees, shrubs, and grass—for species typically found along streams in southeastern Norway. In this desk study, two types of tree species were selected, namely Norway spruce (Picea abies) and Downy birch (Betula pubescens). The Goat willow (Salix caprea) was selected as a shrub, while a common mixed-grass was chosen as grass. Vegetation features were obtained from the literature. The methodology was used for two main cases: (1) considering only the mechanical contribution of vegetation and (2) considering both the hydrological and mechanical reinforcement of vegetation. The main outcome of the numerical modeling showed that the purely mechanical contribution of vegetation to slope stability could not be decoupled from the hydrological reinforcement in order to have a realistic assessment of the roots improvement to the stability. The most critical shear surfaces occurred below the rooted zone in all cases, and the best performance was obtained using the combinations including trees. Considering the typical climate conditions in Norway, the hydro-mechanical reinforcement was most effective in the spring and for combinations including low height vegetation (i.e., grass and shrubs). The study concludes that a mixed combination of vegetation (trees, shrubs, and grass) is the most suitable for reaching the highest hydro-mechanical reinforcement of streambanks, together with erosion protection and boosting the ecosystem biodiversity. The current study can help practitioners determine which vegetation cover combination is appropriate for improving the current stability of a streambank with restoration practices.


1985 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-413
Author(s):  
Peter Rosenberg ◽  
Jacques Provençal ◽  
Guy Lefebvre ◽  
J.-Jacques Paré

The Rivière Broadback in northern Québec flows westward almost parallel to latitude 51 °N to discharge into Baie James at its southern end. Near the estuary the river banks are in clay. Surveys of the landsliding activity showed that many of the slides are superficial, with depths seldom greater than about 2 m, and are usually in the clay crust.Instrumentation revealed regional groundwater pattern close to the river banks that showed areas varying from those with significant underdrainage to those with hydrostatic pressure conditions. The stability of 26 m high river slopes inclined at 27° in an area of underdrainage was investigated.Triaxial testing on undisturbed tube samples was used to obtain the postpeak parameters. Stability analyses gave a factor of safety close to one for shallow failure surfaces. With underdrainage, the factor of safety for deep failure surfaces is appreciably higher. When hydrostatic pore pressure conditions are assumed, analysis gave a factor of safety for deep failure that was reduced by about 30%.The results of the analyses emphasize the relation between the morphology of the landslide activity and the groundwater regime. With underdrainage, effective stresses increase much faster with depth and the critical failure surface is always close to the surface, as confirmed by field observations. Key words: natural slope, clay, pore pressure, field measurements, stability failure surface, failure morphology.


2020 ◽  
pp. 65-75
Author(s):  
Liudmyla Skochko ◽  
Viktor Nosenko ◽  
Vasyl Pidlutskyi ◽  
Oleksandr Gavryliuk

The stability of the slope in the existing and design provisions is investigated, the constructive decisions of retaining walls on protection of the territory of construction of a residential complex in a zone of a slope are substantiated. The stability of the slope when using rational landslide structures is estimated. The results of the calculation of the slope stability for five characteristic sections on the basis of engineering-geological survey are analyzed. For each of the given sections the finite-element scheme according to the last data on change of a relief is created. The slope was formed artificially by filling the existing ravine with construction debris from the demolition of old houses and from the excavation of ditches for the first houses of the complex. Five sections along the slope are considered and its stability in the natural state and design positions is determined. Also the constructive decisions of retaining walls on protection of the territory of construction of a residential complex as along the slope there are bulk soils with various difference of heights are substantiated. This requires a separate approach to the choice of parameters of retaining walls, namely the dimensions of the piles and their mutual placement, as well as the choice of the angle of the bulk soil along the slope. The calculations were performed using numerical simulation of the stress-strain state of the system "slope soils-retaining wall" using the finite element method. An elastic-plastic model of soil deformation with a change in soil parameters (deformation module) depending on the level of stresses in the soil is adopted. Hardening soil model (HSM) used. Calculations of slope stability involve taking into account the technological sequence of erection of retaining walls and modeling of the phased development of the pit. The simulation was performed in several stages: Stage 1 - determination of stresses from the own shaft, Stage 2 - assessment of slope stability before construction, Stage 3 - installation of retaining wall piles, Stage 4 - assessment of slope stability after landslides. Based on these studies, practical recommendations were developed for the design of each section of the retaining wall in accordance with the characteristic cross-sections.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Yuanxu Jing ◽  
Yuan Wang ◽  
Jingqi Huang ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Lunbo Luo

The composite bucket foundation of offshore wind turbines is subjected to a variety of loads in the marine environment, such as horizontal load H, vertical load V , bending moment M, and torque T. In addition, due to the characteristics of its connection section, the water flow around the foundation will produce scour pits of various degrees, reducing the depth of the bucket foundation, which has a nonnegligible impact on the overall stability of the bucket foundation. In this paper, the failure envelope characteristics of different combinations of loads on bucket foundations, including V -H-T, V -M-T, conventional V -H-M, and noncoplanar V -H-M, are numerically investigated with considering different scour depths. The numerical results indicate that the V -H-T, V -M-T, conventional V -H-M, and noncongruent V -H-M failure envelopes gradually shrink inwards with increasing scour depth, and the stability of the composite bucket foundation decreases; the conventional V -H-M failure envelope shows an asymmetry of convexity to the right, and the noncongruent V -H-M failure envelope shows an asymmetry of outward convexity to the left and right. The corresponding mathematical expressions for the failure envelope are obtained through the normalized fitting process, which can be used to evaluate the stability of the bucket foundation based on the relative relationship between the failure envelope and the actual load conditions, which can provide practical guidance for engineering design.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-15
Author(s):  
Sirwan Gh. Salim ◽  
Krikar M. G. Noori

Earth and rockfill dams face a variety of loading conditions during lifetime. One of the most critical loading conditions is the rapid drawdown of water level after steady state conditions. Rapid drawdown may cause instability of upstream slope of the dam. The present work examines the stability of a rockfill dam under different drawdown rates in terms of factor of safety for the upstream slope of the dam. For this purpose, a computer software named GeoStudio 2012 SEEP/W and SLOPE/W has been used for the numerical analysis. The results showed that the drawdown rate has a significant effect on stability of rockfill dam in which increasing the drawdown rate from 1 m/day to 10 m/day decreases the stability of the dam by 33%. Based on the outcomes, for the studied case the drawdown rate (1 m/day) can be recommended.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tesfay Kiros Mebrahtu ◽  
Thomas Heinze ◽  
Stefan Wohnlich

<p>Landslides and ground failures are among the common geo-environmental hazards in many of the tectonically active hilly and mountainous terrains of Ethiopia, such as in the western margin of the Main Ethiopian Rift in Debre Sina area. Besides the geological preconditioning, bi-modal monsoon and seismic events in the tectonically highly active region are usually suspected triggers. In order to minimize the damage caused by the slope failure events, a detailed investigation of landslide-prone areas using numerical modelling plays a crucial role. The aim of this study is to assess the stability of slopes, to understand the relevant failure mechanisms, and to evaluate and compare safety factors calculated by the different available numerical methods. The stability was assessed for slopes of complex geometry and heterogeneous material using the limit equilibrium method and the shear strength reduction method based on finite elements. Furthermore, numerical analysis was done under static and pseudo-static loading using the horizontal seismic coefficient to model their stability during a seismic event. The slope stability analysis indicates that the studied slopes are unstable, and any small scale disturbance will further reduce the factor of safety and probably causing failure. The critical strength reduction factors from the finite element method are significantly lower than the factor of safety from the limit equilibrium method in all studied scenarios, such as Bishop, Janbu Simplified, Spencer and Morgenstern-Price. The difference is especially evident for heterogeneous slopes with joints, which often are initiation points for the failure planes. The simulations show that slope stability of landslide prone hills in the study area strongly depends on the saturation conditions and the seismic load. The studied slopes are initially close to failure and increased pore-pressure or seismic load are very likely triggers.</p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Wenchen Fan ◽  
Ping Cao ◽  
Ke Zhang ◽  
Kaihui Li ◽  
Chong Chen

Chengmenshan copper mine, located at Jiujiang city in the Jiangxi Province, is a rarely lakeside open-pit mine in China. Since the open-pit is very close to Sai Lake, the seasonally changed water level and the distance between lake and slope have great influence to the stability of open-pit slope. Based on the drill data and geological sections, a numerical model of the slope is built. With the fluid-mechanical interaction associated, the stability of the slopes is numerically analyzed, in which different lake water levels and lake-slope distances are taken into consideration. The comparative analysis shows that a larger lake-slope distance can promise better slope stability and weaken the sensitivity of slope stability to water. The stability of slopes with different heights is analyzed to find that the stability weakens and the sensitivity is enhanced with the height increasing. To the most serious situation, the slope height and the lake water level being 238 m and 17.2 m, respectively, theFsvalue equals 1.18945 which is extremely closed to the allowable safety factor of 1.20 for slope design. According to the minimumFsfor slope design, the minimum distance between lake and open-pit slope is found to be 60 m.


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