Chapter Four
Slope stability analysis
By Dumesa Gudissa (Assistant Prof.)
Introduction
1. What is slope ?
2. What types of slope failure are common in soils?
3. What factors provoke slope failures?
4. What methods of analysis are used to estimate the factor of safety of a
slope?
Introduction
❑What is a Slope? An exposed ground surface that stands
at an angle with the horizontal.
❑Why do we need slope stability?
❑In geotechnical engineering, the topic stability of slopes
deals with:
[Link] engineering design of slopes of man-made slopes
in advance
✓ Earth dams and embankments
✓ Excavated slopes,
✓ Deep-seated failure of foundations and retaining walls.
Introduction
2. The study of the stability of existing or natural slopes
of earthworks and natural slopes.
❑In any case the ground not being level results in
gravity components of the weight tending to move the
soil from the high point to a lower level.
❑When the component of gravity is large enough, slope
failure can occur, i.e. the soil mass slide downward.
❑The stability of any soil slope depends on the shear
strength of the soil typically expressed by friction angle
and cohesion
Introduction
❑ Failures of natural slopes (landslides) and man-made
slopes have resulted in much death and destruction,
economic losses, and environmental damage.
➢ Some of these failure can
cause dramatic impact on
lives and environment.
➢ Slope failures cost billions
of $ every year in some
countries.
➢ Loss of lives
Land slide in Taiwan (Lee et al., 2001)
Introduction
• Bolivia, 4 March 2003, 14 people killed, 400 houses
buried
❑ can you share your experience or information
about impact of slopes failure around you ?
Types of slopes (w.r.t. methods of construction)
❑Slopes can be categorized into two groups:
A. Natural slope
• hilly sides
• Mountains
• River banks
B. Man- made slopes
➢Fill (embankments)
➢Earth dams
➢Canal banks
➢Excavation sides
➢Trenches
➢Highway embankments
Modes of slopes failures
❑ Cruden and Varnes (1996) classified the slope failures into
the following five major categories.
1. Fall. This is the detachment of soil and/or rock fragments
that fall down a slope.
2. Topple. This is a forward rotation of soil and/or rock mass
about an axis below the center of gravity of mass being
displaced.
Types of slope failure
Infinite slopes
Finite slope
Modes of slopes failures
Slope failure by “flowing”
Slope failure
❑A slope failure is caused by the imbalance of the external
shear stress (or sliding moment) and the internal shear
strength (or resisting moment) of the slope:
❑Shear stress > Shear strength
❑ Rotational moment > Resisting moment
Modes of slopes failures
Slope failure by “flowing”
Slope failure
❑A slope failure is caused by the imbalance of the external
shear stress (or sliding moment) and the internal shear
strength (or resisting moment) of the slope:
❑Shear stress > Shear strength
❑ Rotational moment > Resisting moment
Cause of slope failures
❑The important factors that cause instability in a slope and lead
to failure are:-
➢ Gravitational force
➢ Force due to seepage of water
➢ Erosion of the surface of slopes due to flowing water
➢The sudden lowering of water adjacent to a slope
➢ Force due to earthquake
❑ The above factors may be classified into two categories
1. The factors which cause an increase in the shear stresses.
❖Stresses may increases due to
✓Weight of water causing saturation of soils
Cause of slope failures
✓ Surcharge loads
✓ Seepage pressure
✓ Steepening of slopes either by excavation or by natural
erosion
2. The factors which cause a decrease in the shear strength of the soil.
❖Loss of shear may occur due to
✓ An increase in water content
✓Increase in pore water pressure
✓Shock or cyclic load
❖ Most of the natural slope failure occur during rainy seasons, as the
presence of water causes both increased stresses and the loss of
strength
Construction of soil nail and grillage
After
Before
Drainage
Shotcreting
Retaining wall
Grading
Construction of soil nail and grillage
After
Before
Pile wall
Gabion walls
Vegetation
Geo-synthetic Grids used for slope protection
and vegetative growth
Flexible Barrier
End of the chapter
