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3010 Foundation Engineering(3-1-0-4)

Course instructor
Dr. Trudeep N. Dave
Institute of Infrastructure Technology Research and Management
E-mail: trudeepdave@iitram.ac.in
Class timings:
Monday: 11:00 to 12:00
Tuesday: 10.00 to 11.00
Thursday: 11.00 to 12.00

La Conchita, Santa Barbara,

California, Spring 1995

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Introduction Modes of Slope Failure

An exposed ground surface that stands at an angle with the
horizontal is called an unrestrained slope.
The slope can be natural or man-made. It can fail in various modes.

Types of slope failure (Cruden and Varnes, 1996)

Fall Detachment of soil/rock fragment.
Topple Forward rotation of soil/rock about an axis below C.G. of
mass being displaced.

Slide Downward movement of soil mass on a surface of rupture.

Spread Slide by translation.
Flow Downward movement of soil similar to viscous fluid.

Topple

Fall

Important factors that cause instability in a slope and lead to failure are
Due to the action of gravitational forces
Due to seepage forces within the soil
Erosion of surface of slopes due to flowing water
Sudden lowering of water adjacent to slope
Forces due to earthquake

Slide

Spread

Why failure of slope occurs

Flow

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Why failure of slope occurs

Important factors that cause instability in a slope and lead to failure are
Due to the action of gravitational forces
Due to seepage forces within the soil
Erosion of surface of slopes due to flowing water
Sudden lowering of water adjacent to slope
Forces due to earthquake

Analysis of stability of slope consists of

The determination of the most severely stresses on the
internal surface and the magnitude of the shearing stresses
to which it is subjected,
The determination of the shearing strength along this
surface

Factor of Safety
Fs = tf / td
Factor of Safety
Fs = factor of safety with respect to strength
tf = average shear strength of the soil
td = average shear stress developed along the potential failure
surface
The shear strength of a soil consists of two components,
cohesion and friction, and may be written as

Types of Slopes
Natural slopes: Due to natural causes
Man made slopes: Cutting and embankments
Infinite Slope: If a slope represents the boundary of a semiinfinite soil mass, and the properties for all identical depths
below the surface are constant, it is called infinite slope.
Finite Slope: If the slope is of limited extent, it is called
finite slope.

Factor of Safety (contd)

The shear strength of a soil consists of two components,
cohesion and friction, and may be written as

td = cd + s tanfd
cd = cohesion at potential failure surface
fd = angle of friction at potential failure surface

tf = c + s tanf
c = cohesion
f = angle of friction
s = normal stress on potential failure plane

Factor of Safety
w. r. t. Cohesion

Factor of Safety
w. r. t. friction

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When Fc = Ff

Stability of Infinite Slopes

Shear Strength of
Soil may be given by

When Fs is equal to 1, the slope is in a state of impending

failure.
In general, Fs = 1.5 with respect to strength is acceptable for
the design of a stable slope.
Assuming that the pore water pressure is zero, while evaluating the
factor of safety against a possible slope failure along a plane AB
located at a depth H below the ground surface. The slope failure can
occur by the movement of soil above the plane AB from right to left.

Stability of Infinite Slopes

Shear Strength of
Soil may be given by

Considering slope element abcd, with a unit length perpendicular to

the plane of the section. The forces, F, that act on the faces ab and cd
are equal and opposite and may be ignored. The weight of the soil
element is
The weight W can be resolved into two components:
1. Force perpendicular to the plane AB = Na = W cos b = gLH cos b
2. Force parallel to the plane AB = Ta = W sin b = gLH sin b. Force that
tends to cause the slip along the plane.

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Considering slope element abcd, with a unit length perpendicular to

the plane of the section. The forces, F, that act on the faces ab and cd
are equal and opposite and may be ignored. The weight of the soil
element is
The weight W can be resolved into two components:
1. Force perpendicular to the plane AB = Na = W cos b = gLH cos b
2. Force parallel to the plane AB = Ta = W sin b = gLH sin b. Force that
tends to cause the slip along the plane.
Thus, the effective normal stress and the shear stress at the base of the
slope element can be given, respectively, as

(1)

The reaction to the weight W is an equal and opposite force R. The

normal and tangential components of R with respect to the plane AB are

For equilibrium, the resistive shear stress that develops at the base of
the element is equal to (Tr)/(Area of base)
The resistive shear stress

.From (1)

(2)..

For granular soils, c = 0, and the factor of safety, Fs becomes equal to

(tan f)/(tan b).
This indicates that in an infinite slope in sand, the value of Fs is
independent of the height H and the slope is stable as long as b < f.

Factor of safety with respect to strength

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 into

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For steady state seepage

through the soil and the
ground
water
table
coincides
with
the
ground surface, as shown
in figure

Part (a)

Part (b)

Prob : 1

Finite Slopes
When the value of Hcr approaches the height of the slope, the slope
generally may be considered finite.
For simplicity, when analyzing the stability of a finite slope in a
homogeneous soil, we need to make an assumption about the
general shape of the surface of potential failure.
Swedish geotechnical commission recommended that the actual
surface of sliding may be approximated to be circularly cylindrical.
Most conventional stability analyses of slopes have been made by
assuming that the curve of potential sliding is an arc of a circle.
In many circumstances (for example, zoned dams and foundations on
weak strata), stability analysis using plane failure of sliding is more
appropriate and yields excellent results.

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Analysis of Finite Slopes with Circular Failure Surfaces

Types of Stability Analysis Procedures

Mass Procedure: Mass of the soil above the surface of sliding is
taken as unit. This procedure is useful when the soil that forms the
slope is assumed to be homogeneous, although this is not the case
in most natural slopes.
Method of slices: In this procedure,
1. The soil above the surface of sliding is divided into a number of
vertical parallel slices.
2. The stability of each slice is calculated separately.
3. This is a versatile technique in which the nonhomogeneity of the soils
and pore water pressure can be taken into consideration.
4. It also accounts for the variation of the normal stress along the
potential failure surface.

Modes of failure of finite slope: (a) slope failure; (b) shallow slope failure; (c) base failure

Fellenius (Ordinary) Method of Slices

Trial failure surface

AC is an arc of a circle representing the trial failure surface.

The soil above the trial failure surface is divided into several vertical
slices. The width of each slice need not be the same.
Considering a unit length perpendicular to the cross section shown,
the forces that act on a typical slice (nth slice) are shown in Figure.
Wn is the weight of the slice. The forces Nr and Tr, respectively, are
the normal and tangential components of the reaction R.
Pn and Pn+1 are the normal forces that act on the sides of the slice.
The shearing forces that act on the sides of the slice are Tn and Tn+1.
For simplicity, the pore water pressure is assumed to be zero.

forces acting on nth slice

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For (force)Equilibrium consideration

The resisting shear force can be expressed as

The normal stress s can be equated as

The value of an is positive when the slope of the arc is in the same
quadrant as the ground slope. To find the minimum factor of
safetythat is, the factor of safety for the critical circleone must
make several trials by changing the center of the trial circle.
For convenience, a slope in a homogeneous soil. However, the
method of slices can be extended to slopes with layered soil, as
shown in Figure.

For equilibrium of the trial wedge ABC, the moment of the driving
force about O equals the moment of the resisting force about O, or

It can be represented as
Factor of safety = MR/MD

The general procedure of stability analysis is the same. However, for

the factor of safety calculation, the values of f and C will not be the
same for all slices. For example, for slice No. 3 we have to use a
friction angle of f = f3 and cohesion C = C3. Similarly, for slice no.
2.
Total shear strength parameters

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Stability of Slopes of Earth Dam

Stability of Downstream Slope During Steady Seepage

The stability of slopes of an earth dam is tested

under the following conditions:
1. Stability of downstream slope during steady
seepage
2. Stability of upstream slope during sudden
drawdown
3. Stability of upstream and downstream slopes
during and immediately after construction.

Critical condition of D/S slope occurs when the reservoir

is full and percolation is at its maximum rate. The
direction of seepage forces tend to decrease the stability.
In other words, the Pore Water Pressure acting on the
soil mass below the saturation line reduces the effective
stress responsible for mobilizing shearing resistance.
The Normal components N are calculated on the basis
of Buoyant Unit Weight g of the dam, while T
components are to be calculated on the basis of
saturated unit weight.

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Stability of Upstream Slope During Sudden Drawdown

For U/S slope, the critical condition is when the reservoir
is suddenly emptied without allowing any appreciable
change in the water level within the saturated mass of
soil.
With complete drawdown, hydrostatic force acting along
the U/S slope at the time of full reservoir is emptied. The
weight of water within the soil now tends to help a sliding
failure without the hydrostatic pressure on the slope to
counteract it.
The Normal components N are calculated on the basis of
Buoyant Unit Weight g of impervious U/S slope while T
components are to be calculated on the basis of saturated
unit weight.

Stability of U/S and D/S Slopes During or Immediately

after Construction
When a dam is built of relatively impervious compressible
soil, excess pore pressure develops in the air and water
entrapped in the pore space.
As the pore pressure greatly affects the shear strength of
soil, it is essential to know its magnitude for stability
analysis.
Plot between effective stress s and percent consolidation
is obtained from consolidation test.
The construction pore pressure is estimated using Hilfs
equation : u = (Pa * )/ (Va + hc * gw * )
Knowing effective stress and pore pressure u, the total
stress s is obtained by s = s + u

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Bishops Simplified Method of Slices

A more refined solution to the ordinary method of slices.
The effect of forces on the sides of each slice are accounted for to
some degree.

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Summing the forces in the vertical direction gives

Taking the moment about O gives

Note that the term Fs is present on both sides of above Equation Hence,
we must adopt a trial-and-error procedure to find the value of Fs.
Bishops simplified method is probably the most widely used.

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