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Critical acceleration versus static

factor of safety in stability analysis
of earth dams and embankments

Article in Gotechnique January 1974

DOI: 10.1680/geot.1974.24.4.661

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TECHNICAL NOTES

Critical acceleration versus static factor of safety in

stability analysis of earth dams and embankments

S. K. SARMA, BTech, PhD, DIC* and M. V. BHAVE BSc, DIG*

It has been shown (Sarma, 1973) that the computation of the critical acceleration for a given
earth dam section is much simpler than the computation of the static factor of safety. Even
though the term acceleration suggests some kind of dynamics, Sarmas method of solution
is a static one. The critical acceleration factor K, is obtained as first part of the solution
towards the static factor of safety and Sarma suggested the use of Kc as a measure of the static
factor of safety.
Certain advantages of Sarmas Kc method of solution over other factor of safety analysis
methods are listed in the following text.
The method of solution is rigorous but simple and easy to understand. It can be applied to
slip surfaces of any shape.
No iterative computations are necessary to obtain Kc, although these cannot be avoided if a
factor of safety is needed.
Whereas in other methods, the solutions may not converge to give a value of the factor of
safety, the Kc method does not suffer from this problem.
Within the bounds of the assumptions involved, the solution of K, is unique. The unique-
ness of the solution of the factor of safety by other methods cannot be proved.
In the process of obtaining the factor of safety by the Kc method, the values obtained in each
of the iterations are useful whereas, in other methods, the intermediate results are useless.
Since no iterations are necessary to obtain Kc, the time saved in computation could be enor-
mous, irrespective of whether a desk calculator or computer is used.
Over and above these computational advantages, there are also features which are physically
more accurate and therefore can be considered as advantageous.
In the Kc method, the curve for the interslice body forces is obtained by considering the stress
conditions inside the mass; these are therefore not arbitrary. Although these contain cer-
tain assumptions, the assumptions can be modified when more information is obtained.
It is known that the factor of safety on a slip surface is not uniform except when it is equal to
unity (Wright et. ul., 1973). The value of Kc is obtained when the factor of safety is equal to
one; this is therefore more accurate in the physical sense than a value of the factor of safety
greater than one.
It can therefore be said that the K, method of solution is both a physically accurate and
computationally advantageous method. In the design of earth dams and embankments, a
designer faces the following two problems. First, he has to find the most critical surface and,
second, to find the value of the factor of safety for that surface. To solve these problems, he
selects hundreds of surfaces and computes the factor of safety for each one of them. The su.r-
face that produces the minimum factor of safety is considered to be the critical surface. If Kc
can be used through this search pattern to obtain the critical surface, then the amount of com-
putation will be drastically reduced and valuable time saved. Accordingly, a homogeneous

* Civil Engineering Department, Imperial College, London.

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662 TECHNICAL NOTES

R,=
-0

Scaleoffeet
0 50 100

Fig. 2. Typical cross-section of the dam

dam of cross-section and material properties shown in Fig. 1 is chosen. Several hundreds of
slip surfaces (circles) were tested for both the factor of safety (determined by Sarmas method)
and Kc. After a thorough search, it was found that the surfaces which gave the minimum factor
of safety and the minimum Kc were very nearly identical. The two surfaces and their results
are shown in Fig. 1. It can be seen that the differences appear in the third decimal place; these
are smaller than differences that are obtained by different methods of solution or from varying
assumptions in the same method of solution. This conclusion appears to be true even for
heterogeneous sections. Therefore Kc can be used directly to obtain the most critical surface
and then determine the factor of safety for that surface.
As the purpose of the factor of safety and Kc is to give an idea of the reserved strength, K,
can be used more advantageously by the designer provided an idea can be given as to the re-
lationship of K, to the factor of safety. With this in mind, an attempt is made to work out a
relationship for earth dams and embankments. For this purpose, a homogeneous earth dam
section is chosen for analysis (Fig. 2). In this section, the height, the crest width and the depth
of the bedrock are kept constant. Properties of the soil both above and below the ground level
are the same. The following combinations of the soil parameters and side slopes are chosen :
c = 0, 200,400, 600, 800, 1000 lbf/ftz
tan + = 0,0*2,0~4,0*6,0*8, 1-O
slope = 23: 1,3: 1,33: 1
R, = 0,0-4

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TECHNICAL NOTES 663

Fig. 3

0 Slope i 3:l R, i 0
vSlope=3:IRu=@4

Fig. 4

Several circular and non-circular slip surfaces are chosen in each case. The simplified Bishops
method (1955) is used for most of the circular slip surfaces, mainly because this method is most
commonly used by designers and also because this gives quite accurate results (Spencer, 1967).
Therefore, a comparison of results by this method with the KC method is most appropriate.
For the rest of the surfaces, Sarmas method is used.
The large amount of data from about 150 critical surfaces giving both Kc and the factor of
safety are plotted in Fig. 3. It is obvious that a factor of safety equal to one corresponds to
zero Kc. Keeping this point fixed, a linear relationship can be found between the static factor
of safety F and the critical acceleration factor Kc. This gives
F= l.O+bK, . . . . . . . . . . (1)
where
b = 3.33

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664 TECHNICAL NOTES

IO
tiomogeneour earth dam
Heinhr = looft
rm .+I= I0

06 ran+-06

05

J
n.
f

o-3

02

01

-0 I

- 0.2

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

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TECHNICAL NOTES 665
Within the range of values of practical interest up to Kc =0*4, b has a scatter of + 0.9.
Around a factor of safety of 2.0, this represents a scatter of k 0.27 which is not much greater
than the scatter obtained from different methods of stability analysis. This scatter is much less
when the factor of safety approaches one.
The scatter in the value of b appears to have come from the geometry of the dam, though the
soil properties have some effect; this is apparent from Fig. 4. The steeper the slope of the dam,
the smaller is the value of 6; even then the points are quite close together. The figure also
shows that the same value of the factor of safety implies different amounts of reserved strength
as regards to its capability to withstand horizontal loads which may be imparted by, say, an
earthquake.
Figures 5 and 6 show the relationship of the critical acceleration factor K,, factor of safety F,
soil parameters c and 4 for a slope of 3 : 1 and two values of R,.
Although equation (1) is derived for uniform, homogeneous earth dams, it seems to be valid
for multi-zoned dams as well. Several results for dams which are multi-zoned but of various
cross-sections are shown in the graph by full circles.
From the results already mentioned, it may be concluded that a value of Kc may be safely
used as a design parameter for earth dam designs in place of the factor of safety.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work mentioned in this Note was carried out in the Civil Engineering Department of
Imperial College, London. This forms part of the main line of research into the stability of
slopes and foundations supported by the Science Research Council. The computations were
carried out in the CDC 6400 computer at Imperial College. Acknowledgements are due to
the Government of India and the Government of Maharashtra for sponsoring Mr Bhave to
study at Imperial College and to the British Council for financial assistance to him.

REFERENCES
Bishop, A. W. (1955). The use of the slip circle in the stability analysis of slopes. Geootechnique5, No. 1,
7-17.
Sarma, S. K. (1973). Stability analysis of embankments and slopes. G&ootechnique23, No. 3,423-433.
Spencer, E. (1967). A method of analysis of the stability of embankments assuming parallel inter-slice forces.
Geotechnique 17, No. 1, 1l-26.
Wright, S. G., Kulhawy, F. H. & Duncan, J. M. (1973). Accuracy of equilibrium slope stability analysis.
Jnl Soil Mech. Fdn Engng Am. Sot. Civ. Engrs 99, SMlO, 783-791.

The paraffin method-triaxial testing

without a rubber membrane
K. IVERSEN* and J. MOUM*

In normal triaxial testing of soil samples the triaxial cell is filled with water to transmit the
desired all-round pressure to the soil sample. To have full control over volume and pore-
pressure changes in the sample it has been necessary to have a close fitting impermeable mem-
brane as a barrier between the pore-fluid in the sample and the water in the cell. Natural or
synthetic rubbers are commonly used as membrane materials. A further requirement is that

* Norwegian Geotechnical Institute.

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