STA TE O F-T H E A R T REPORT ETAT AC TU EL DES C O N A IS S A N C E S

STABILITY O F NATURAL SLOPES AN D EM BAN KM EN T FO UN DATIO N S

STABILITE D ES TALUS N ATU RELS ET DES F O N D A TIO N S DE REM BLAIS

by A. W. Skem pton Prof. o f Civil Engineering

Im perial C o lleg e o f S cience an d Technology
South Kensin gton, London, U.K.
E ngland
an d J. Hutchinson
Joh n N eville
W im bledo n , London, U.K.

SYNOPSIS A system of classification of landslides In clay slopes Is proposed Involving

the recognition of five basic types and six complex forms of movement. Clays are described
in terms of their geotechnical characteristics and theix mode of origin. The shear stren­
gth properties of clays are reviewed with particular emphasis on possible discrepancies
between strengths in the fie ld and as measured in conventional laboratory te sts. Some
methods of stability analysis currently In use are summarised. Fourteen analytical case
records are then considered in some detail and fie ld data are presented relating to the
development of sl>pes in clay strata. It Is concluded that great progress has been made
during the past two decades in the scientific study of landslides and related processes in
clay slopes, but many uncertainties st ill remain and some types of mass-movement have not
yet been analysed quantitatively.

1. INTRODUCTION

The scientific study of earth and rock
slopes has applications ranging from prob­
lems in pure geomorphology to the predic­
tion of slope stability for civil engineer­
ing purposes and the design of remedial
measures where a landslide has destroyed or
is threatening property, communications or
the lives of people.
Prom whatever point of view the subject is
approached a proper understanding Is re­
quired of four interrelated groups of topics:
(1) recognition and classification of the
various types of mass>movements that
can occur on slopes; their characteri­
stic morphological features; their
geological setting; their rates of dis­
placement, and the causes of failu re;
( i i ) classification and precise description
of the materials involved in mass-
movements, and the quantitative meas­
urement of their relevant properties|
(iii) methods of calculating the stability
of a slope in terms of the type of
fa ilu re , real or anticipated, and
the material properties;
(iv ) correlation between fie ld observa­
tions and the results of stability
calculations based on measured pro­
perties of the materials involved in
a mass-movement.
This fourth topic lies at the heart of the
subject. Unless and until a corpus of ana­
lytical case records has been established,
adequate scientific knowledge of any class
of landslide or type of material cannot be
said t o exist.
So far as is possible within the limits of
a single paper the authors have endeavoured
to review these aspects of the subject in
terms of clay slopes. Some restriction is
clearly necessary in a field which, in its
entirety, covers an exceptionally broad
range.

291
 S K EM P T O N and H U TC H IN S O N
2. TYPES OP LANDSLIDES AND OTHEH MASS- ure can generally be distinguished. As a
MOVEMENTS consequence of the removal of lateral supp­
ort, bulging occura at the elope foot and
Maae-movements occur chiefly In response to tenaion cracks open behind ita crest. The
gravitational forces, sometimes supplemented development of these crackB brings about a
by seismic activity. The manner in which a progressive Increase of stress in the root
slope yields to these forces is controlled of the separating mass. This eventually
by a multitude of factors, of which geol­ f a il s , releasing the fa ll ( F i g .l ) . The pres­
ogy • hydrology, topography, climate and ence of water in suoh tension cracks natural­
weathering are the more important. In view ly producea a very marked reduction in stab­
of the wide range of variation possible in il it y .
each of these factors, it is hardly surpris­
ing that in combination they should give
rise to mass-movements of suoh variety aa
to resist rigorous classifloation. Three
broad subdivisions, namely frozen ground
phenomena, creep and landslides, may be SOME BASIC TYPES
recognized, however (Hutchinson, in presa). FALLS
Attention here will be concentrated on the OF MASS-MOVEMENT
last of these, as developed on olay slopes» ON CLAY SLOPES
The generic term, landslide, embraoes thoae
ROTATIONAL SLIDES [ S L I P , SLUM P]
down-slope movements of soil or rock masses
which oocur primarily as a reault of ahear
failure at the boundaries of the moving
mas9.
circu lar shallow non - circular
In the following an attempt is made to iso­
late and define those types of landslide COMPOUND SLIDES graben
which occur sufficiently often to be regard­
ed aa characteristic and to explore broadly
the reasons for their particular features.
The simplest movements, generally possess­
ing a certain unity, are the most readily competent sub-stratum
distinguishable. These are regarded as the
basic types of landslide on slopes: the TRANSLATIONAL SLIDES
more Important of these are illustrated
diagrammatically in F i g .l . The remaining
characteristic landslide forma are in gener­
al multiple or complex assemblages of these
basic types. Some frequently oocurring
types of multiple and complex landalidea
are illustrated in F i g .2 .

In categorising the various types of land­

slide, most weight is given to the shape of
the moving masses in down-alope aection at
the time of failu re . The ratio D /L ( F i g .3)
relating the maximum depth of the slide to
its maximum in itia l down-slope extent, is a
useful measure of this property (Skempton solifluction sheet & lobe
1953a 4 1953b).
Fig. 1
Landslides of similar D /L ratio can, how­
ever, behave very differently during and
after failu re . Thus recognition is also
made of the importance of the form of the
masses after failu re , both in down-slops The majority of slopes steep enough to be
section and in plan. Rates of landslide subject to falls are found in the stronger,
movement are, as will be shown subsequently, over-consolidated clays. As these are rare­
extremely variable and do not appear to ly intact, the tension crackB uaually devel­
form a useful basis for primary subdivision. op along pre-existing joints or fissures.
The position of these in relation to the
2.1 Some Basic Types of Landslide on Clay slope creBt may then considerably influence
Slopes the size and manner of the eventual f a l l .
The more deep-seated ones usually fa ll back­
2 .1 .1 F a lla . Clay falls are typically wards in f a ilin g : a thinner clay masB, par­
Bhort-term failures in the steep alopea of, ticularly on a near-vertical slope, may
for instance, a rt ific ia l excavations or topple forwards.
eroding river banks. Such falls are usual­
ly rather insignificant and few are describ­ Examples of clay falls from the walls of
ed in the literature. Two phases of fail- steep-sided excavations in over-consolidated

292
 N ATU RAL SLO P E S A N D E M B A N K M EN T F O U N D A T IO N S
fissured clays are given by Bazett, Adams 4
Matyas (1961; for the crust of the Leda Clay
In the St. Lawrence valley and by Skempton
4 LaRochelle (1 9 6 5 , F i g .3 , 1st failure and
F i g .6 ) for the brown London Clay at Bradwell,
Essex. The Bradwell case well illustrates
the critical effect of water in the tension
cracks. A fall which occurred in a resid­
ual soil in Hong Kong, formed of decomposed
granite, is illustrated by Lumb (1962,
F i g .3 ) . In this instance the fa ll was
defined by relict Joint and fissure surfaces.
MULTIPLE and COMPLEX LANDSLIDES
MULTIPLE RETROGRESSIVE SLID E S
LATERAL SPREADING
BOTTLE - NECK S LID ES
Fig. 2
2 .1 .2 Rotational slides (Blips, slumps).
Rotational slides occur characteristically
in slopes of fairly uniform clay or shale.
The curved surface of failu re , being con­
cave upwards, imparts a back-tilt to the
slipping mass which thus sinks at the rear
and heaves at the toe ( F i g .l ) . Such slides
are, as a class, relatively deep-seated,
with D /L ratios lying between 0 .1 5 and 0 .3 3 .
There is some tendency for slides with the
higher values of this ratio to be associat­
ed with the steeper slopes. The deeper,
better-developed rotational slips thus gen­
erally develop on the slopes of cuttings
and on actively eroding c l i f f s .
Circular rotational slips occur typically
in slopes of the more uniform clays. As in
293
J
L = maximum length of slide up slope
D = maximum thickness of slide
B = maximum breadth of slide
Landslide proportions Fig. 3
slips of this form movement can take place
without distortion or shearing of the f a il ­
ing body, the slipped masses are character­
istica lly unbroken except at the toe, where
some tumbling and over-riding commonly occurs.
Of the numerous circular rotational slips
reported from cut slopes, that at Lodalen,
Oslo (Sevaldson 1956) is one of the most
completely documented (see F i g .2 2 ). This
failure occurred in a railway cutting thrcugi
slightly over-consolidated intact clay: the
circular shape of the slip surface was con­
firmed by borings. Approximately circular
slips in cuttings through normally consolid­
ated clays are relatively common. They are
exemplified by the failures at Congress
Street, Chicago (Ireland 1954) (see F i g .1 9 ),
and in the Eau Brink Cut, Norfolk (Skempton
1 9 4 5 ). Terzaghi and Peck (1948) suggest
that slides in varved clay deposits may also
be approximately circular providing that
the porewater pressure in the silt layers
is inconsequential.
In natural slopes failures which appear to
have been of circular rotational type have
occurred in c liffs of over-consolidated,
fissured London Clay at Walton, Essex, (Anon.
1898) and at Warden Point, Kent (Hutchinson
1 9 6 8 ). An approximately circular, though
shallower, slide in a natural slope of over­
consolidated, intact clay t il l at Selset,
Yorkshire, is described by Skempton 4 Brown
(1961) (see F i g .2 3 ).
 SKEM PTO N and
Non-circular rotational slips seem usually
to be associated with slopes of over-consoli­
dated clays in which a degree of non-homo-
geneity has been produced by weathering.
Anisotropy of the unweathered strata also
influences the form of these slip s. As
movements on non-circular failure surfaces
are necessarily accompanied by distortions
of the slipping masses, these are always
broken to some extent and grabens may devel­
op (Ritchie 1 9 5 6 ). Several of the slips
studied by Collin (1 8 4 6 ), well exemplified
by that at Barrage de Grosbois, Prance,
( P i g .4) in Jurassic clay, were of non-circu-
lar type as was the slip in a railway cut­
ting through the Weald Clay at Sevenoaks,
Kent, investigated by Toms (1 9 4 8 ). A strik­
ing photograph of the oross-section of a
non-circular rotational slip near Port
Spokane, Washington, is given by Jones, £t
al. (196 1, P i g .3 ) .
trench excavated 1831
slip occurred Sept 1833
slip
Slip in foundation trench , Grosbois
a fte r Collin
Shallow rotational slip s, of both circular
and non-circular form, are common on slopes
of moderate inclination in weathered or col-
luvial clays. Examples of both these cate­
gories of shallow rotational slip on London
Clay slopes are given by Hutchinson (1 9 6 7 a ).
2 .1 .3 Compound slides and translational
slides. In many landslides the surface of
failure is pre-determined by the presence
of a heterogeneity within the slope. The
development of a simple rotational slide is
thereby prevented and a translational ele­
ment introduced into the slide movements.
In general the smaller the depth to the
heterogeneity the greater the translational
element will be. The heterogeneity usually
consists of a weak soil layer or structural
feature or a boundary between, for example,
clay and rock or between weathered and un­
weathered material.
(a) Compound slid e s. Compound
slides reflect the presence of a hetero­
geneity at moderate depth beneath a slope.
In such cases the failure surface is formed
of a combination of curved and planar ele­
ments and the slide movements have a part-
rotational, part-translational character
HUTCHINSON
( F i g .l ) . Severe distortion and shearing
accompany the sliding movements and the slide
masses are correspondingly broken. Good ex­
amples of compound 9lides are provided by
failures at Gradot, Yugoslavia (Suklje &
Vidmar 1 9 6 1 ), (see P i g .2 5 ), and the 'Miramar'
slip on the coast of Kent (Hutchinson &
Hughes 1 9 6 8 ). Both slides owe their form to
the presence of a firm rock stratum immediate­
ly beneath the layer of over-consolidated,
fissured clay in which the failure was seated.
A further example, though with a stronger
translational component, le the slide at
Bekkelaget, Oslo (Eide & Bjerrum 1 9 5 4 ).
There a rotational slip in higher ground at
the rear of tiie slide was accompanied by
translational movement of an adjoining slab
of flatter ground. Severe distortion of the
slide masses was limited to the zone between
these elements. In this case, the dominant
heterogeneity was a zone of normally consoli­
dated, soft, quick clay located beneath the
weathered surface crust of the clay deposit.
Comparison of these three compound slides
suggests that the degree of break-up of the
slide masses is controlled not only by the
degree of non-circularity of the failure
surface, but also to a considerable extent
by the nature of the strata involved in the
movement. Thus in the soft clay at Bekkela­
get disturbance of the slide masses was very
localised and buildings in the lower part of
surface the slide were lit tle damaged. In the Mira­
mar slip in the London Clay, the slide mass­
es were severely broken in the vicinity of
Dam t France the heel of the slide where a major graben
was formed. Seaward of thiB, the masses
(1846)
were relatively lit t le disturbed. In the
Gradot slid e , however, which involved fairly
rigid tuffs and conglomerates, the Blide
Fig. 4 masses broke up to a high degree and filled
the valley with debris.*
(b) Translational s lid e s . Transla­
tional slides generally result from the pre­
sence- of a heterogeneity located at shallow
depth beneath the slope. In such situations,
the failure Burface tends to be relatively
planar and to run roughly parallel to the
slope of the ground ( F i g .l ) . Slide move­
ments are therefore predominantly transla­
tional and distortion of the sliding mass
is small.
Block slides occur typically in in situ
material which is fair ly hard ancT-Jointed.
The block involved separates from its parent
mass on steeply inclined Joints or fissures
and slides as a unit on a well-defined plane
of weakness. As in a rock slid e , this may
be formed by a bedding or Joint plane or by
a pre-existing fa u lt, shear surface or shear
zone. Block slides in Triassic marls and
* The Vajont compound rock slide may be con­
sidered as occupying an extreme position in
thiB spectrum.
294
 N ATURAL S LO P E S A N D EM B A N K M EN T FO U N D A T IO N S
sandstones, in which the planes of failure Sharpe (1 9 3 8 ).
were determined by faults, occurred during
the opening out of the Cofton tunnel, near (a) Earthflows. The term 'earthflow'
Birmingham, England (McCallum 1 9 3 0 ). Oood ia uaed by Sharpe (1938. to describe two en­
examples of block elides in unweathered tirely different forms of maBS-movement in
over-consolidated and jointed clays at Val- clayB.* The term iB here confined to the
dermo, Italy , are given by Esu (1 9 6 6 ). It alow movements of softened, weathered debris
is evident that the proportions of block which develop typically in material forming
elides are controlled largely by the spac­ the toe of a elide. Such an earthflow ie
ing of the discontinuities which bound the shown developing on the far side of a slump
block and D/L ratios thua vary widely. at Adame Township, Ohio, in Plate IVB of
Sharpe (1 9 3 8 ). An earthflow in a more ad­
Slab slides are a characteristic type of vanced state of development at Blaina, South
translational failure in more weathered, Vales, is illustrated in F i g .5. Earthflows
clayey slopes. Such Blides move with l i t ­ are transitional between slides and mudflows.
tle distortion, predominantly as a single They differ from the latter in their smaller
unit. They commonly occur in a mantle of degree of structural breakdown. Thus earth­
weathered or colluvial material, the depth flows commonly retain a considerable part
of which chiefly controls the form of the of their original vegetation cover and in­
failing mass, and rarely, i f ever, have D/L clude much that is recognisable of the elide
ratios greater than 0 .1 (Skempton 1 9 5 3 ). from which they originate.
Examples of slides in this category on low
angle slopes on London Clay are given by
Hutchinson (1 9 6 7 a ). The failure in a steep­
ly inclined residual soil mantle after
heavy rain at Caneleira, near SantoB, Brazil
(see P i g .24) (VargaB & Pilcher 1 9 5 7 ), seems
to have begun as a slab slide but then to
have broken up and descended to the slope
foot as debris. This type of behaviour is
more typical of slab slides on the steeper
slopes. The Caneleira slide illustrates
the triggering of translational failures
by transient, perched water tables follow­
ing heavy ra in fa ll.

In contrast to these examples of slab slides

in weathered or residual slope mantles may
be mentioned the landslide at Purre, Norway
(Hutchinson 1 9 6 1 ). This was broadly of
slab type, but involved chiefly in aitu
materials and failed on a thin, gently
inclined layer of quick clay.

2 .1 .4 Flows. Flows form a rather neglec­

ted and lit t le understood group of move­
ments, with a correspondingly confused
terminology. We shall here exclude from
consideration the extremely rapid flowB
which result from the sudden access of
water to debris mantled slopes, as these
seem to partake more of mass-transport than
oass-movement. Examples of these are the
volcanic mudflowa (Scrivenor 1929; Iida
1938) which can have average speeds of up
to 25 m/sec and the torrential mudflowa or
mudspates, commonly having speeds of sever­
al m/sec, which the events described by
Sharp & Nobles (1953) and Curry (1966) F i g .5 Landslide at Blaina, March 1954
appear to exemplify.
(b) Mudflowa. MudflowB are glacier­
like in form and have surface inclinations
Flows which undoubtedly comprise a form of
varying generally between about 5 and 1 5 °.
mass-movement are categorised either as
Rates of mudflow movement vary widely (see
earthflows or mudflows ( F i g .l ) . Also, al­
Table 3) and can be highly seasonal. Mud­
though properly considered as frozen ground
flows commonly develop when a mass of
rather than landslide phenomena, periglaclal
solifluction sheets and lobes are included
here as, apart from their mode of origin,
they have many characteristics in common
* Here referred to as 'earthflows' and
with mudflows. In no case where observa­ •retrogressive quick clay (bottleneck)
tions are available does the mechanism of
Blides'.
these flows correspond to that proposed hy

295
 S K EM P T O N an d H U TC H IN SO N
argillaceous debris becomes softened by
water and they consist typically of the ill-
sorted remnants of this debris in a soft,
clayey matrix ( P i g .6 ).
10 1 2 3 u
—— ■-■ ^ mmmmmammm
F ig . 6 Section of mudflow material
Beltinge, Kent
Such flows are often well-developed below
bare slopes of fissured clays. Major mud­
flows also occur in deposits of fissured or
intact clay interbedded with layers of fin e ,
water-bearing sand. In this case the clay­
ey debris is provided by undermining of the
clay beds by seepage erosion in the sand
layers (Hutchinson 1965a, and in press).
Varved or laminated deposits are naturally
particularly prone to develop mudflows in
this way (Legget 4 Bartley, 1 9 5 3 ).
Recent measurements of the distribution of
movement in a mudflow at Beltinge on the
London Clay c liffs of north Kent, both on
a transverse surface profile and with depth,
have demonstrated that the flow moves pre­
dominantly by marginal shearing on slicken-
sided slip surfaces, that i s , in a manner
approximating to plug flo w .* In the Bofter
mudflows it seems likely that the movements
arising from boundary shear w ill be increas­
ingly supplemented by viscous movements
within the flow. Surface observations of
other coastal mudflows in S. England,
originating from over-consolidated fissured
clays and glacial deposits, suggest that a
discrete sheared failure surface at their
boundaries is a general feature of these
flows. It was concluded from these fin d ­
ings that the distinction between slides
and flows drawn by Sharpe (1 9 3 8 ), which is
central to his classification of mass-move-
ments. is not generally true (Hutchinson
19 65a ).
From a consideration of the plan proportions
of mudflows it seems desirable to disting­
uish between an elongate variety and a lob-
ate one ( F i g .l ) . The Slumgulllon mudflow
(Crandell 4 Varnes 1 9 6 1 ), with a le n g th to
breadth ratio ( F i g .3) of the order of 10,
is a good example of the elongate type.
Other elongate mudflows are those at Stose,
S t .G a ll , Switzerland (von Moos 1953; L/B*17)
and at Mt. Chausu, Japan (Fukuoka 19531
L /B s l l ). These naturally develop moat
fully where, as in the cases mentioned,
there is l it t l e or no erosion at the toe of
the mudflow. In situations where the toe
of a mudflow suffers appreciable erosion,
such as on the coast, a more lobate type of
mudflow generally develops. An example of
this type is the coastal mudflow at Beltii^je,
Kent, already mentioned, which has an L/B
ratio of about 5 .
(c) Solifluction lobes and sheets.
Recent observations on fo ss il perlglacial
solifluction features have extended consi­
derably the generality of the conclusions
reached earlier about the mechanism of mud­
flow measurements. Although little evidence
has been found for the occurrence of shear­
ing in connection with contemporary soli­
5 fluction, it is now evident that extensive
shear surfaces are associated with certain
fossil solifluction features in Southern
England and may indeed be widespread on
clay alopes. These shears were firs t dis­
covered during the investigation of soli­
fluction lobes below the scarp of the Hythe
Beds near Sevenoaks, Kent. The lobes,
which consist of angular rock fragments in
a matrix of sand, silt and clay, are typic­
ally 10 to 15 feet thick and have clear
topographical expression. Thev are descri­
bed by Skempton 4 Petley ( 1 9 6 7 ;, see F ig .31,
and have been dated to Zone I I I of the Late-
glac ial. Subsequently the underlying and
much more extensive Welchselian solifluc-
tion sheet was also found to be underlain
by slickensided shear surfaces, even where
the ground slopeB at only 3 or 4° (Weeks
1969; Skempton 4 Petley 1 9 6 7 ). The engin­
eering importance of these observations,
particularly on such flat slopes and
* The published movements of the younger
Slumgullion mudflow, Colorado (Crandell 4
Varnes 1 9 6 1 ), although measured only at the
surface and not interpreted in this way,
may be inferred also to be of plug flow type.
296
 NATURAL SLOPES AND EM BANKM ENT FOUNDATIONS
beneath a aolifluction aheet with no topo­
graphical expression, is clearly very great.
Further examples of similar "aolifluction
eheara" beneath fossil solifluction sheeta
on low-angle slopes in London Clay and Wad-
hurat Clay are given by Weeks (1 9 6 9 ). De­
tails of a trial pit in a solifluction
sheet on an approximately 5° slope of London
Clay at Boughton H i l l , Kent, are shown in
F ig .7.
2.2 Some Examples of Multiple and Complex
Landslides
Among the variety of more complex land­
slides on clay slopes, certain frequently
occurring types may be recognized. In gen­
eral, these exhibit a multiplication or
combination of the basic types of landslides
described previously.
2 .2 .1 Successive slip s. Successive rota­
tional slips consist of an assembly of
individual shallow rotational slips ( F i g .2 ) .
They are characteristic of the later stages
of the free degradation process on slopes
of over-consolidated, fissured clay, which
for the London Clay occur on slopes of bet­
top so il
Section of the upper
a fte r
ween about 13° and 8 ° inclination. Both
regular and irregular varieties develop: the
former produces steps across the Blope, the
latter a mosaic of shallow rotational slips
(Hutchinson 19 67a ). The rather sparse data
available suggests that successive slips
generally spread up a slope from its foot.
A cross-section of the abandoned London Clay
c l i f f below Hadleigh Castle, Essex, on which
successive rotational Blips have developed
is reproduced in Fig.34 . A photograph of
similar slips on an 8^ ° London Clay slope at
High Halstow, Kent, is given in Hutchinson
(1967b, F i g .3 ) . The landslide at Sarukuyoji,
Japan, a cross-section of which iB given in
F ig . 8 (Fukuoka 1 9 6 5 ), may represent an ad­
vanced stage of successive slipping in which
the individual movements begin to interact
and to evolve towards a multiple translation­
al type of movement.
1.2.2 Multiple retrogresalye elid e s. Mult­
iple slides develop rrom single failures by
the occurrence of further, retrogressive
failures which interact to form a common
basal slip surface. Predominantly rotation­
al and predominantly translational varieties
can be recognised ( F i g .2 ) .
solifluction sh eet of
clayey sa n d w ith
angular flint fra g m e n ts
principal slip surface
w eathered London Clay
part of Boughton Hill , Kent
A G W e ek s 1969
Fig. 7
297
 SKEM PTON and HUTCHINSON
An early stage in the development of a
multiple rotational elide is illustrated
by the coastal landslide in Oligocene clays
at Seagrove Bav in the Isle of Wight
(Skempton 1 9 4 6 ). A more fully developed
example is provided by the coastal land­
slides involving the Chalk and the Gault clay
at Folkestone Warren, Kent (Fig. 2 e ), the
multiple rotational character of which was
first recognised by Toms (1 9 5 3 ). This type
of landslide clearly becomes more transation-
al in overall character as the number of com­
ponent rotational slips increases. Contemp­
orary activity at Folkestone Warren comprises
chiefly the renewal of movement in the old
slipped masses. In such a situation, with
the shear strength parameters on the slip
average slope A - B = 13-2°
depth to slip surface
300*
Section through
from
surfaces remaining constant at their
residual values, the Influence of varying
ground-water pressures on the incidence
of the slides can be more clearly discern­
ed. Thus, at the Warren, all the deep-
seated renewals of movement known during
the past 130 years have occurred within
the period of maximum seasonal ground-water
pressures from December to March (Hutchin­
son 1 9 6 9 ).
Multiple rotational slides occur most
frequently on actively eroding slopes of
fairly high r e lie f, in which a thick
stratum of over-consolidated, fissured clay
or clay-shale is overlain by a considerable
layer of more competent rock. Failures of
this type are rare and poorly developed in
cliffs formed predominantly of s t i f f ,
fissured clays. In the absence of a
competent cap-rock, the scarp formed
at the rear of the in itial rotational
slip tends to be degraded so rapidly
by shallow slip s, fa lls and muri-flows
that the retrogressive development of
a further deep-seated slip is usually
inhibited (Hutchinson 1965a, and in
press). The landslides on the Meikle
River, Alberta (Nasmith 1 9 6 4 ), in which
the seat of failure lies in heavily over­
consolidated, s t if f fissured lacustrine
silts and clays, appear to be of multiple
rotational type. A further example of
such a slip is provided by the failure
at Sandnes, Norway, seated in a layer
of over-consolidatei, s t if f fissured
© <D
average velocity during 3 3 m /y r 2 2 m/yr
period Nov. 196£ - June 1965 = 0-9cm^ay =0-6 cm/day
maximum daily velocity 6 cm /day L cm/day
= 5 - Km
part of Sarukuyoji Landslide , Japan
M. Fukuoka ( in lift. 1965)
Fig. 8
interstadial or interglacial clay (Bjerrum
1 9 6 7 ). In both the last two cases a till
forms the cap rock.
Predominantly translational forms of multi­
ple retrogressive slide generally develop
from slab slides, and are controlled by
similar factors. It is probable that the
lower the cohesion of the sliding mass,
the smaller and more numerous the individ­
ual retrogressive failures will be. The more
cohesive type of multiple translational
failu re, with a moderate degree of subdivis­
ion, is exemplified by the landslides at
Jackfield, Shropshire (Henkel 4 Skempton 1954)
and at Portugese Bend, California, see F ig .9
(Merriam I 9 6 0 ) . The predominantly silty
deposits involved in the retrogressive slide
at Vibstad, Norway (Hutchinson 1965h ), how­
ever, had little cohesion and the slide was
298
 NATURAL SLOPES AND EM BANKMENT FO UNDATIO NS
subdivided to a correspondingly high degree.
2-2.3 Slump-earthflows. Slump-earthflows
•ire a fairly common type of complex mass—
•nove.-ncnt which occupies a position transi-
'-io.:al between rotational slides, or slumps,
i..d locate sudflows. They develop typically
in a rotational slide of considerable dis-
placeaer.t, where the toe of tne slipping
.'■iso is .iiuch broken by over-riding. In the
presence of water, this debris then softens
ur: i develops into an earthflow and perhaps
eventually into a mudflow.
A landslide near Berkeley, California, which
demonjtrates the in itia l stages of slump-
Portugese Bend
after Merriam
earthflow development, i 3 illustrated by
Varnes (1958, P i g .2 8 ). A later stage, in
which pronounced earth-flow is in progress,
is illustrated by the landslide at Blaina,
already mentioned.
2 .2 .4 Slides in colluvium. Although every
slipped mass i s ,i n a strict sense, colluvium,
it is convenient in this context to use this
m jrd in the ,.iore restricted sense of material
wnicn is so shifted and weathered that indi­
vidual slipped masses are not longer distin­
guishable. Colluvium in this sense is proba-
oly :aost typically developed in the accumu­
lation zones below freely degrading c liffs
(Hutchinson 1 ^6 7 a ). A pre-requisite of
sjch features is a period of strong erosion,
to produce the c l i f f , followed by a long
period of little or no erosion during which
coiiuvium can accumulate at the foot of the
cliff in step with its weathering and degra­
dation. Such conditions are widespread, for
example, in areas where severe aelt-water
•-•rosion during the retreat of tne Pleistocene
ice sheets has been followed by some 10,000
years of virtually free degradation of over-
steepened clayey or shaley slopes.
An example of such a colluvial deposit and
its inherent instability is provided by the
account of movements at Walton's Wood.Staff­
ordshire, given by Skempton & Petley (196 7),
see F ig.30* Slow movements, approximately
of multiple translational type, on a complex
of old slip surfaces in the colluvium were
accelerated by the construction of a motor­
way embankment across i t . Another striking­
ly similar example of a colluvial slope, at
V/eirton, W. Virginia , is furnished by D'App-
olonia £t a l . (1 9 6 7 ). In both tnese cases the
Landslide California
(1960) and Kerr & Drew (1967)
Fig. 9
colluvium has over-ridden granular alluvium,
deposited during erosion of the slopes.
Ground water levels in this alluvium and the
adjacent rock are low: the stability of the
colluvial slopes is controlled by high, per­
ched water tables within them.
Other types of slides in colluvium involve
the renewal of movements in debris which is
associated with individual old slides, usu­
ally of large size, rather than with a gen­
erally developed accumulation zone. Although
of common occurrence few examples have been
described in the literature. The landslides
near Portland, Oregon (Clarke 1904) and at
Yui, Japan (Taniguchi & Watari 1965) appear
to belong to this category.
2 .2 .5 Spreading fa ilu re s. Failures by sud­
den lateral spreading in clay slopes are a
particular type of retrogressive translatio­
nal slide. They are characterized by the
gentle slopes involved, the broad front and
rapidity of the movements, which are usually
completed within a few minutes, and the
299
 SKEM PTON and HUTCHINSON
succeselon of graben and horst structures
which are produced in the slid masses ( F i g .2 ) .
Terzaghi 4 Peck (1948) ascribe such failures
to the presence at some depth beneath the
elope toe of a seam or stratum of sand or
silt in which seasonally high pore-water
pressures are acting. Slides of this type
appear to oe frequent in varved clay deposits,
as exemplified by the failures along the
Hudson River valley (Newland 1 9 1 6 ). Quick
clay deposits can alBO fa il in this way, as
for Instance at Skottorp, Sweden, where high
water pressures in an underlying sand layer
were considered to be the likely cause of
the slide . The deeper parts of the clay in­
volved in the slide were also varved. Some
of the horsts in this slide took the form of
acute clay ridges and a retrogressive failure
mechanism explaining their formation was
proposed (Odenstad 19 5 1 ). The recent slide
at Turnagain Heights, Alaska, provides a fur­
ther example of a spreading failure in quick
clays. There too, high pore pressures in
interbedded lenses of loose sand, in this
case generated in response to earthquake
shocks, are believed to have played an im­
portant part in the failure (Seed 4 Wilson
1967; Seed 19 6 8 ).
2 .2 .6 Quick clay slides. While in some cir­
cumstances quick clay slopes may fa il in cer­
tain of the ways already mentioned ( e .g .
Bekkelaget, Furre), there is one type of land­
slide which is peculiar only to quick clays,
the 'bottle-neck' type of retrogressive,
multiple rotational fa ilu re . Such slides
generally begin with an in itia l rotational
slip in the bank of a stream incised into quick ments observed, which are thus likely to
clay deposits. The slipping mass is in part
remoulded to the consistency of a liquid
which runs out of the cavity, carrying flakes
of the s t i f f , weathered crust. The steep
rear scarp is left unsupported and a further
rotational slip takes place. This in turn
becomes sufficiently remoulded to flow out
into the stream bed, and retrogressive slips
continue until a stable scarp is attained
(F ig .2 ) . The retrogression is extremely
rapid and usually has a greater lateral
extent in the deposits away from the stream
than in the weathered, rather stronger material long-term creep is known to take place at
forming the bank, hence giving these slips
their characteristic bottle-necked shape in
plan. The remoulded clay flows down the stream evidence of mass creep has yet to be
bed and is eventually redeposited. Such
slides are common in the Late-and Post­
glacial marine clays of Norway and Eastern
Canada and are well exemplified by the failures is believed to be a continuous gradation
at Ullensaker (Bjerrum 1954) and Nicolet
(Crawford 4 Eden 1 9 5 7 ).
Studies of a number of quick clay slides in
Norway have shown that an important factor
in the development of quick conditions and
the incidence of quick clay slides is the
leaching of the marine clay deposits by the
upward flow of ground-water under artesian
pressure from the underlying bedrock when
this lies at shallow depth.
300
2 .3 Rates of Landslide Movenent.
A qualitative description of the movements
typically associated with a landslide has
been given by Terzaghi (1 9 5 0 ). He dist­
inguishes firs t a general condition of creep
which continues fa ir ly steadily until the
slide-producing agent begins to reduce the
factor of Bafety of the slope. From then
until failure constitutes the phase of pre­
failure movement, in which the rate of down-
slope movement increases at an accelerating
rate until the landslide takes place. The
considerably more rapid movements during
failure are fin ally succeeded by a phase of
stability or of post-failure movements.
This framework is used in the discussion
which follows. Hudflow movements are
treated separately.
2 . 3 .1 Creep. All slopes are subject to
creep although in many cases this ia so
small as to be virtually unmeasurable.
Terzaghi(l o c .c l t . ) distinguishes usefully
between seasonal, or mantle creep and
continuous, or mass creep. The former is
confined to the surface zone of fluctuating
ground temperature and moisture content.
It includes soil creep and talus creep and
is highly seasonal. On clay slopes the
sparse available data suggest that mantle
creep may range from less than 0 .1 cm. up
to a few cms. per year. In moderate
climates significant movements may extend
to a depth of as much as 1 m. (Terzaghi 4
Peck 1 9 6 7 ). Volume changes arising from
swelling and drying probably account for
the major part of the smaller creep move­
increase with slope angle and soil colloid
content. The higher creep rates probably
occur as a result of freeze-thaw action and
would more properly be regarded as peri-
glacial solifluction movements.
Uass creep results only from gravity forces
and is therefore of relatively constant
rate (Terzaghi, lo c . c i t . ). It is likely that
such creep will be of most significance at
depth, below the zone of mantle creep. From
drained laboratory tests on clays, continuing,
stresses that are only a fraction of their
peak strength (Bishop 1 9 6 6 ). Clear field
obtained.
In the types of creep discussed so far there
between the stationary and the moving mater­
ial and hence no development of a shear
Burface. Whether mantle creep can eventually
change into some form of translational slide
we do not know, but this seems unlikely.
2 .3 .2 Pre-failure movements. From an
engineering point of view great interest
attaches to those movements which precede
and lead up to the failure of a slope. These
warn of the danger of sliding ;-nd may event­
ually form a basis for the prediction of
failu res.
 NATURAL SLOPES AND EM BANKMENT FOUNDATIONS
Some examples of the rather few useful pre­
failure measurements In the literature are
given in Table 1 . The displacement-time
curve for a small retaining wall and slope
in brown London Clay at Kensal Green,
covering the 13 years before collapse, is
3hown in P i g .10.
From the above examples it will be seen
that pre-failure movements are character­
ised by accelerating and finally relatively
high rates of movement. In the cases
exjlored these average several cm/day during
the week preceding failure and reach a few
decimetres/day on the last day. Four of
the cases involve s t if f fissured clays and
in these materials at least it is probable
that the pre-failure movements are the out­
ward sign of the progressive development in
the slope of the eventual failure surface.
Vajont, though only in Bmall part a clay
slope, is included because of the rather
good records of movement available for the
Kensal Green
after Skempton
301
two years preceding the slide .
The magnitude of the displacement occurring
before failure depends primarily on the
thickness of the zone in which the develop­
ing slip surface is seated (Terzaghi 1950;
and ou the type of clay. This is generally
borne out by the cases in Table 1 . Terzaghi
also draws attention to the converse situat­
ion in which the clay layer involved is thin
and the pre-failure movements are correspond­
ingly small and easily overlooked.
Little Information is available about pre­
failure movements in elopes of lntaot,
normally consolidated clays but it seems
likely that in these, such movements are
smaller. In the more highly stressed of the
soft clay slopes of the GBta River Valley,
Sweden, the possibility is being explored
of installing downslope movement meters which
could be
cutting
(1964)
Fig. 10
 SKEM PTON and HUTCHINSON
arranged to give automatic nam ing of an im­
pending slide. Although some movements have
been observed, the data is as yet in s u ffic i­
ent to permit such an alarm system to be
built (GUSta&lvskommitt^n 1962).
Come advance towards the prediction of
slope failures has been made by Saito (1 9 6 5 ).
Letailed observations of pre-failure move-
ner.ts of slopes and walls in Japan show that
t ese exhibit phases of secondary and terti­
ary creep, much as found for metals (Sully
1 9 4 9 ) 1 from which an estimate of the time to
failure is made by empirical means. Some
techniques of measuring pre-failure move­
ments in slopes are discussed by Terzaghi 4
! eck (196 7).
2 . 3.3 Movements during fa ilu r e . The speed
of landslides during failure is controlled
c:iiefly by the nature of the clay in which
swearing is taking place and by the shape
ped in the sensitive or quick clay slides in
which remoulding can produce an almost total
loss of strength on the slip surface after
f a ilu r e .
Of slides in clay slopes, those involving
quick clays are probably the fastest. Their
rate of movement during failure appears to
be typically between 0 .5 and 1 .5 m/sec.
Spreading failures in materials other than
quick clay are probably the next most rapid,
with speeds of the order of several metres
per minute. By contrast, conventional
slides in relatively homogeneous masses of
clay or residual soil of low sensitivity
seldom attain a speed of more than 0 .3 m/min.
and may move much more slowly (Terzaghi loc.
c lt. )
Slides on failure surfaces of high overall
inclination will naturally tend to be rapid.
Rapid movements can also arise in non-

Table 1 P re-F ailure Movements

1 1 1 I
Time before slip — 7 yrs 2yrs 6 mths 8 days 1day i^ Total
I i I I movement
average rate of rnovement >ver perio d of before
Site Description
5 yrs 18 mths c. 6 mths 7 days 1 day slip

Kensal Green small rt. wall 2 cm^r 9 cm/yr 16 cm/yr - - 35 cm

(1) and slope =-04cmAtay
Ooigawa large rt. wall - - 5 cmfyr® > 20 cm
(2) =•01cm/day 1 cm/day 10 cm/day
Dosan medium size - - - 3 cm/day 30 cm/day >40 cm
(2) landslide
Gradot Ridge very large - - - - - > 130cm
(3) landslide

Vajont extremely large - 70cm/yr 110 cm/yr 250 cm

W landslide =0-3 cm/day 6 cm/day 20 cmAiay

References (1) Cooling 1945 © measured over 50 days only

(2) Saito 1965
(3) Suklje & Vidmar 1961
(4) Muller 1964

and overall steepness of the failure surface.
If the clay has a flat-topped or perfectly
plastic atress-strain curve after fa ilu re,
such as may be approximated to in a t i l l ,
the slide will experience no tendency to ac­
celerate with increasing shear displacement
and will move slowly down-slope until it
reaches a stable position with a factor of
safety close to 1 .0 . Conversely, i f the
ahear resistance reduces appreciably once
the peak strength is passed, the slide will
accelerate and be carried past the stable
position by its own momentum, coming to rest
with a factor of safety rather higher than
1.0 on the residual strength. Slides in
stiff fissured clays exhibit this behaviour
to some degree, but it is most fully develo­
circular or more particularly compound slides
when release of the mass takes place by a
delayed internal fa ilu r e .*
2 .3 * 4 Post-failure movements. After f a i l ­
ure the slip surfaces in most clays w ill be
at, or very close to, their residual strength
and further possible changes in shear para­
meters are negligible. A common feature of
* A further development of this mechanism,
in which a void is produced at the heel of
the slide, is put forward by Mencl (1966)
to explain the catastrophic transformation
of the movements during the Vajont slide.

302
 NATURAL SLOPES AND EM BANKM ENT FOUNDATIONS

movements on such slip surfaces is their 5 to 25 m/yr, broadly according to the in­
moderate or low speed. This applies tensity of erosion of the mudflow tongue.
whether the aovements are brought about by
seasonal pore-pressure changes or by some The movements of some, and probably a majo­
alteration in the loading of the slipped rity of mudflows are highly seasonal. The
-.Lass. The post-failure movements of several coastal mudflows in Table 3, for instance,
old slides are given in Table 2. Speeds of are almost stationary for the greater part
uoveae.it range from zero to 6 m/yr. Move­ of the year, accomplishing most of their
ments of this type are particularly charac­ annual movement within 2 or 3 months. The
teristic of slides in heavily over-consoli- Slumgullion mudflow on the other hand is
dated clays, as the cases in Table 2 illu s ­ remarkable for the virtual constancy of its
trate. speed of movement (Crandell & Varnes 1961).

As previously mentioned the movements of

certain mudflows have been shown to approxi­
mate to plug flow.
Tabic 2 Some Exam ples of P o st-fa ilu re Movements

S ite Slope Period of Average Max daily Ref.

observation velocity velocity
almost
California Loc 8 ® 9" 55 yrs imperceptible (D Table 3
Herne Bay , East Cliff 11* 4 yrs 2-5 cm/yr (2) Some Examples of Mudflow Movements

California Loc 10 10* 20 yrs 4 5 cm/yr (D Max daily

F^riod of Average
13’ 8 mths 300 cm/yr 6 cm/day Site Slope Ref
Sarukuyoji (3) observation velocity velocity

Portugese Bend 3 yrs 600 cm/yr > 3 cm/day U)

Slumgullion 7 f# 13 yrs 5m^r id
© re-activated by exceptional rainfall in 1958 moving
at rate of 8 cm/yr ( observed for 8 months) Stoss 1 yr 7 m/yr (2)

(1) Gould (1960) (2) Hutchinson ( personal comm.) 25 cm/day (3 )

Beltinge 7* 3 yrs 8 m/yr
(3) Fukuoka (personal comm] (4) Merriam (I960}
Stonebam*v Down 9* 2i yrs 18 m/yr >50 cm/day (4)

Mount Chausu 8i* 20 yrs 25 m/yr 25 cm/day (5)

Slides in normally consolidated or quick
clays generally exhibit no post-failure ® Coastal mudflow
movements. This is partly because their (1) Crandell & tomes (1961) (2) von Moos (1953)
momentum during sliding has caused the slip­ (3) Hutchinson ( personal com m ) (4) Brunsden ( personal com m )
ped mass to over-ride strongly to a position
(5) Fukuoka (1953)
of fairly high factor of safety. Also in
such clays the remoulded material in the
slip surface l i a s , once it has reconsoli­
dated, a strength greater than that of the
original undisturbed clay.

Measurements of the distribution of velocity

3. CLAYS
with depth in post-failure movements in Under this heading we comment on the types
s tiff, fissured clays indicate that genera­ cf clay commonly encountered in slope prob­
lly the major part of the movement takes lems and add some notes on basic shear
place by sliding on a basal slip surface or strength properties together with remarks on
within a narrow shear zone (Gould I9 6 0 ). various factors leading to discrepancies
between the strength of clays in the field
2 .3 .5 Mudfow movements. Mudflow movements and laboratory.
are in a broad sense the post-failure move­
ments of a very broken and softened type of 3 .1 Types of Clay
translational slide , and the comments made
in tne previous sub-section will apply. 3 . 1 .1 Terzaghi1s Grouping. In 1936b Ter­
Some examples of mudflow movements are given zaghi put forward a three-fold grouping of
in Table 3*. As would be expected from clays which is simple and practical from a
their softened nature, these mudflows genera­ geotechnical point of view. His three
lly have rates of movement higher than those groups are:
exhibited by landslides after failu re. The
Hverage mudflow rates quoted thus range from eoft intact clays
stiff intact clays
stiff fissured clays.
* Although not described as such by their
investigators, the uiass-movements at Stoss The majority of clays fall readily into one
and Mount Chausu are here categorised as or other of these groups, though there are
mudflows. bound to be some transitional cases and
examples can be found in a fourth group:
soft fissured clays.

303
 SKEM PTON and HUTCHINSON
Implicitly Terzaghi referred to saturated
clays. As the slip surface in most land­
slides Is located beneath ground water
level, there is little loss of generality in
this restriction, and where necessary it is
easy to add the qualification that the clay
is partially saturated.
The distinction between 's o ft ' and ' s t i f f
clay was based by Terzaghi primarily on
liquidity index; the soft clays having a
liquidity index equal to or greater than
about 0 .5 whereas for s t if f clays the index
i e typically close to zero. For sedimen­
tary clays he further stated that soft
claye are normally- or lightly over-conso-
lidated, whereas the st iff clays are chara­
cteristically heavily over-consolidated.
We accept this distinction but add that the
cohesion intercept, expressed in terms of
effective stress,is zero or very smal^ in
soft cla«s (for example, c ' < 5 0 l b /f t or
0.25 t/m ) whilst for s t if f clays the
interceptpis appreciable (typically c ’ >
200 lb /ft or 1 t/m ) . Similarly, pro­
vided the clay is saturated, the undrained
shear strength c of soft clays is usually2
not more than about 500 l b /f t or 2 .5 t/m ,
whereas for stiff clays c commonly exceeds
1000 lb /ft or 5 t/m .
The upper limit of st iff clays is not easily
stated in quantitative terms. Tentatively
it may be said that 'hard claye' or 'clay
shales' have an undrained shear strength
above 4000 lb /ft or 20 t/m . They have
well-developed diagenetic bonds (Bjerrum
1967) but can 6till be worked up with water
to form a paste. Shales and mudstones, in
contrast, are so indurated that they resist
disintegration in water, i . e . they are weak
rocks.
Terzaghi's grouping recognised the equal
importance of strength and structure. In­
tact clays, in his own words, are "free
from joints and fiss u re s". In contrast a
clay which is fissured (using this term in
a broad sense) contains a network of struc­
tural discontinuities comprising one or more
of the following types: small (typically
less than 6 ins. or 15 cm .), more or less
randomly orientated, matt-textured fissures
sensu strictu; larger and more systematic
joints, familiar in many rocks; slicken-
aides, similar in size to fissures and often
having a random orientation, but with poli­
shed, striated surfaces; laminations (such
us those in a clay shale) also relatively
small, but showing a preferred orientation
sub-parallel to bedding (Skempton, Schuster
& Pctley 1969). The discontinuities in
clay top-soils are described by Brewer
(196 4).
The foregoing groups of clays can each be
sub-divided on the basis of varying degrees
of plasticity. The liquid limit provides
the best single index property in this con­
text as it reflects both the amount and the
nature of the clay minerals present. The
following divisions have been suggested by
304
Skempton (1 9 6 9 ): ^ L
sandy or eilty clays K. 30
clays of low plasticity 30-50
clays of medium plasticity 50-90
clays of high plasticity ^90
Clays can also be classified according to
their origin or mode of formation. For our
present purpose it is sufficient to recog­
nise five broad classes. These are listed
below with a brief description of each cate­
gory.
3 .1 .2 Clays produced by rock-weathering in
situ . Strictly speaking any clay produced
by weathering, and which remains in place,
Bhould be classified as 'r e s id u a l '; but in
practice this term may be restricted to
clays derived from deep and intense weath­
ering of rocks, especially of igneous rocks
in tropical climatic zones. These residual
claye can exhibit relict structures of the
parent rock, such as joints, where the
weathering has not been complete, and they
usually have drying cracks near the surface.
Between these zones residual clays may be
virtually free from structural discontinui­
ties. Typically they have sufficient streng­
th to be placed in the group of st iff clays.
Slope failures in residual clays often take
place after exceptionally heavy r a in fa ll.
Consequently their relevant strength pro­
perties are those of the clay in a saturated
or near-saturated condition. Possibly in
some residual clays the cohesion intercept
may then decrease substantially so that, at
the time of fa ilu re , they could become soft
intact clays. In the zone of seasonal vari­
ations sllckensides, as well as drying cracks,
may develop in residual clays of high liquid
lim it.
Another class of weathering, typical of
temperate climates^results in the forma­
tion of clays from argillaceous rocks. De­
pending on the degree and depth of weathering,
and on the nature of the parent rock, a wide
variety of materials can be produced, but
the clays usually have a relict structure or
become fissured or slickensided (probably by
unequal volume changes during weathering),
whilst retaining sufficient strength to be
grouped with the s t if f clays. In most caseB
they are referred to by such terms as 'weather­
ed shale' or, more specifically, as 'weathered
Keuper Mari' etc. The so-called 'drying crust'
of soft clays, in which chemical as well as
physical changes have taken place, Is
frequently grouped with the s t if f fissured
clays.
Shallow weathering of more competent rocks
is a common condition on slopes In comparative­
ly young valleys. The mantle then consists
essentially of a sandy or clayey top-soil
overlying a layer of rock fragments In a
matrix of finer material. Very little 1s
known of the geotechnical properties of these
clay so ils, but the available data (Carson
1967) suggest that when approaching saturation,
 NATURAL SLOPES AND EM BANKM ENT FOUNDATIONS
as in the winter after heavy rain,the cohe­
sion intercept is rather low. They are
certainly not intact, and therefore it seems
best to place them tentatively in the group
of soft fissured clays.
3 .1 .3 Sedimentary clays. Clays deposited
under water in an alluvial plain, in a lake
or in the sea can be placed in the wide cate­
gory of sedimentary clays. Most, but not
ail normally-consolidated Bedimentary clays
contain few structural discontir.uities;
their cohesion intercept is zero or very
small; and their sensitivity to remoulding
is moderate. They are typical examples of
coft intact clays. Some normally consolida­
ted or even some over-consolidated clays
are extremely sensitive to disturbance.
These are the 'quick clays', the properties
of which are so distinctive that they give
rise to a special category of landslides.
Over-ccnsolidated sedimentary clays, with
an appreciable cohesion intercept, range
from those with no structural discontinui­
ties to those which are densely fissured.
Very broadly it seems true to say that the
higher the clay fraction or liquid limit,
and the more heavily the clay is over-
consolidated, the more likely is it that
the clay will be fissured (using this term
in the loose sense). Conversely the stiff
intact sedimentary clays appear to be those
with a more silty composition.
3 .1 .4 Glacial clays. The characteristic
examples here are the boulder clays or
clay t i l l s . They often have a rather sandy
or silty clay matrix, but even when the
matrix has a high clay content there may be
no structural discontinuities. Probably
the till was so completely remoulded during
its formation that any structures in the
parent clay have been obliterated. Most
tills are compact and belong to the group
of s t iff intact clays.
Soft intact clay tills are also known, how­
ever, and they were presumably formed under
a relatively small thickness of ice or under
ice which was partially buoyant. Fissured
clay tills seem to be uncommon, except tfiere
they have been disturbed by post-deposi-
tional movements such as landsliding or
later ice advances.
3 .1 .5 Periglaclal clays. In regions which
had a periglacial climate during the Pleis­
tocene period, many h ill sides and old
valley slopes are mantled with solifluction
deposits, typically up to 2 or 3 m. thick,
and on flatter ground evidence is seen of
cryoturbation. Clays affected by these
processes are usually remoulded to vary­
ing degrees, and although when in motion
down-slope, or when 's t ir r e d ' by cryoturb­
ation, they must have been soft, they now
appear as moderately s t i f f . Some of these
soiiflucted clays contain slickensides;
but others, perhaps the majority, present
a heterogeneous though almost structure­
305
less fabric.
3 .1 .6 Clays transported by landsliding.
I f clay"] involved in a simple landslide,
has moved only a short distance it will be
fractured and distorted to a greater or
lesser degree, but its properties will not
be greatly changed except for some softening
and an increase in the secondary (or mass)
permeability. In such cases we would speak
of 'slipped masses' or 'slump blo cks'; imply­
ing no radical overall change in the clay.
At the other extreme are the mudflows, in
which the clay has become so softened and
remoulded as to have lost a l l , or almost all
traces of its original form and properties
( F i g .6 ) . It can then be described as a soft
Intact, heterogeneous clay; except for
surface drying cracks in the dry season.
Colluvial clays constitute a wide range of
materials derived by the combined actions
of weathering, earthflow and multiple slid­
ing. These clays are often very heterogene­
ous, containing small rock fragments and
numerous slip surfaces, and the matrix may
or may not be slickensided. They blanket
the slope down which they are or have been
moving; and may spread out for considerable
distances beyond the toe of the buried bed­
rock slope. In some cases the landform l a
that of a landslide of the slump-earthflow
type; but in other cases, perhaps of greater
age, there is little topographical expresal®.
The colluvial clays seem generally to have
a moderate to st iff consistency.
Similar material may constitute the debris
from a landslide where, as a result of very
large movements, the mass has become totally
or largely disintegrated.
3 .2 Basic Shear Strength Properties
In this section, after some introductory
notes on effective stress and pore pressures,
a brief survey is made of such topics as
stress-strain curves, failure criteria, the
effects of anisotropy and undrained strength.
3 .2 .1 Effective Stress. In accordance
with the principle formally stated by
Terzaghi (1936a) the effective stress o' 1
in a given direction within an element of
saturated soil 1 b
cr' = o' - ^ ... (i)
where O ’ is the total stress acting in that
direction and uw iB the pore water pressure
in the element. For all saturated soils
this statement is exact within the limits
of the most refined experimental methods of
investigation so far employed.
I f , however, the soil is partially saturated
there w ill be a pressure ua in the air voids,
somewhat greater than the pressure u^ in
the water phase. The effective stress is
 SKEM PTON and HUTCHINSON

then given by the expression (Bishop 1959) piezometer of the hydraulic type w ill meas­
ure the pore water pressure but a
a’ = cs - + ( i -”X)(ua - i^)] ... (2 ) piezometer of the diaphragm type w ill meas­
ure the pore air pressure ua . Most clays
where X is a coefficient to be determined involved in landslides, even i f they do
experimentally. When the soil is fully contain some air voids, probably have a
saturated “X = 1 and high or moderately high degree of saturation
at the time of fa ilu re . In these conditions
Up u^j and piezometers of either type will
O' = O’ - % give approximately the same readings. In
fully saturated soils there ie no ambiguity;
When the voids contain only air , X . = 0 and the pore pressure can only be the pore water
pressure, and this will be read by any
c r = a - ua properly functioning piezometer.

for partially saturated so ils, as the deg­ For the great majority of slope problems,
ree of saturation increases so the factor then, it seems that the effective stress at
lua - uw) becomes smaller and the coeffic­ any point below the water table can be
ient PC tends to unity. taken as

Thus for soils with a high degree of satu­

cr' = O' - u
ration ( e .g . more than 90 percent) the where u is the piezometric pressure. This
error in neglecting the product (1 - % ) is often written in the form
lua - t^) is small.
u = * wh
3 .2 .2 Piezopetrlc head. In a partially
yaturat¥3 soil beneath the water table a where h is the piezometric head and If is
the density of water.

Simplified shear strength properties of clay

( after Skempton 1966. )

Fig. 11

306
 NATURAL SLOPES AND EM BANKM ENT FO UNDATIO NS

3 .2 .3 Peak and residual strengths. Typical Much work nevertheless remains to be done
stress-strain curves are sketched in P i g .11 on the measurement of residual strength.
for normally - and over-consolidated clay Recent tests using the torsion (ring)shear
tested under drained conditions. Both show apparatus, for example, indicate that before
a peak strength corresponding to the maximum a strictly constant strength is reached very
shear stress the material can re sis t, at a large displacements (of the order of one
given effective stress normal to the direct­ metre) are necessary, on a perfectly plane
ion of shear. With increasing displacements surface, and this 'ultimate' residual may be
after the peak strength has been attained appreciably lower than the Btrength in
the shear resistance decreases until at reversal or cut-plane tests.
large strains the strength falls to a con­
stant or nearly constant value. This lower Ambiguities also exist in the determination
limit of resistance is known as the residual of peak strength; which is influenced by
strength. rate of shearing, orientation with respect
to bedding and probably, in fiBsured. clays,
Soft silty clays may show little difference by the size of the sample being tested. The
between peak and residual. With higher clay effects of these various factors are mention­
contents the difference tends to increase, ed later.
even in the normally-consolidated condition,
and the decrease in strength is associated
with re-orientation of clay particles along
the slip surface. Most s t if f (over-
consolidated) clays show a marked decrease
in strength from peak to residual, resulting
partly from the particle orientation effect
and also from an increase in water content
due to dilatancy within the zone of shearing.
These effects increase with clay content and
the degree of over-consolidation.

In simple shear, small en echelon slip sur­

faces develop just before the peak strength
is reached. With greater displacements
other sets of shears appear which gradually
extend in number and magnitude until a con­
tinuous, undulating principal slip surface
is formed (Skempton 1 9 6 6 ). Continued d is­
placements produce some flattening of the
slip surface and cause a further small Stress - strain curves showing different degrees of brittleness
reduction in strength. The residual strength
measured in reversal shear box tests
corresponds more or less closely to this
stage. Tests in the shear box or triaxial Fig.12
apparatus on samples of clay with a pre-
cut plane give results which tend to be
slightly lower.
3 .2 .4 Brittleness. Regarding the stress-
When the opportunity presents it s e lf samples strain curves shown in Pig. 12, it is clear
can be taken across a natural slip surface, that curve (a) represents a plastic or non-
e .g . from an old landslide, and the shear brittle clay in contrast to the decidedly
strength along the surface can then be brittle clay represented by curve ( c ) . Part
measured in the laboratory by carrying out of this difference is due to clay (c) having,
tests on specimens carefully set up in in relation t'o the peak, a much lower residual
the shear box or tria x ia l, just as with a strength than clay ( a ) ; a distinction which
cut-plane sample. Tests of this kind have can readily be expressed by a 'brittleness
been reported by Skempton 4 Petley (1967) index' (Bishop 19 67).
who show that in several clays there is
reasonably good agreement between the
results so obtained and the residual strength
measured by reversal tests on in itia lly un­
sheared material. where s^ and s are respectively the peak
and residual strengths. The shape of the
Moreover it seems, from the limited amount Btress-strain curve is also significant;
of experience so far available, that the see, for example, the difference between
strength measured on laboratory samples curves (b) and (c) both with the same value
Including a natural slip surface is of I B. Bishop ( lo c . c l t )has introduced an
approximately equal to the strength calculat- energy parameter to quantify the ratio of
edjrrom stability analyses in those cases the work done in shearing from peak to
where post-failure movements are known to residual and the work done if the clay con­
have occurred, or are still taking place, tinued shearing at peak strength.
along the slip surface.

307
 SKEM PTO N and HUTCHINSON
3 .2 .5 Failure criterion. The Coulomb- the plane-etrain strength to be 5 per cent
Terzaghi criterion of failure states that higher, and Duncan and Seed (1966) demonstrate
the shear strength on any plane in a soil is an increase of about 12 per cent for un­
related to the effective normal stress on disturbed San Francisco Bay mud, a soft0
that plane by the expression silty clay having a high value of 0 1 ( 3 5 in
triaxial compression).
s = c' + ffn tan 0 ' . . . ( 5)
Few systematic comparisons have been made
where c' (the cohesion intercept) and 0 ’ between the peak strengths as measured in
(the angle of shearing resistance) are shear box tests and triaxial compression
material parameters of the soil in its con­ tests on clays. I f , as is commonly the
dition at the time of failu re . Unless case, the box samples are sheared horizontal­
specifically defined the parameters c' and ly ( i . e . parallel to bedding in a deposit
0 ’ refer to the peak strength. The para­ not affected by folding) the compression
meters corresponding to residual strength samples should be inclined at such an angle
are denoted by c ' and 0 r ’ . that the failure plane is also approximately
horizontal, in order to make a valid com­
In general this failure criterion is in parison of results. Tests of this kind in
better accordance with experimental results blue London Clay are summarised in Table 4.
than any of the more elaborate formulations They show that the shear box gives slightly
at present available (Bishop 1 9 6 6 ). However, higher values of c' and 0 ' than the inclined
two qualifications must be made.
triaxial tests but the differences are
scarcely significant.
Firstly, the parameters c 1 and 0 ' a r e not
necessarily constants independent o f O r'I.
In other words the actual failure envelope
may be curved,rather than a straight line
as implied by e q n .( 5 ) . It is therefore Toble 4
desirable to test the olay over a range of Effect of Sam ple Orientation on Shear Strength P aram eters
effective normal stress embracing the values Blue London Clay from W raysbury (A garw al 1967)
of likely to act in the practical problem.
Unless the curvature of the failure envelope Approximate Tests P eak s tre n g th
is unusually pronounced c' and 0 ’ can then inclination of
p a r a m e te r s
be taken as the parameters corresponding to fa ilu re p la n e s Type S ize O rientation C‘ ,
the best linear fit over the relevant stress to h o rizo n tal lb / f t2 *
range. Exactly the same remarks apply to s h ear box 6cm horizontal 720 192°
the residual strength envelope. ♦ 0*
tria x ia l l i in inclined 690 190’

Secondly, the criterion is two-dimensional t 55° triax ia l - vertical 740 22 3*

and can take no account of boundary condit­
ions on what may be called the ’ lateral
planes'. Thus in an element within a
continuum subjected to principal stresses
O', 1> ’ > 0*i the criterion leads to a
unique expression for failure in terms of
tf,1 and c fi1 i and the parameters c' and 0 >,
independent of c u 'o r of any restraints in
the direction of o ^ ' •
The 'plane strain ’ condition with no deform­
ation of the lateral planes ( i . e . the planes
normal to O 'p ') is important as this
corresponds father closely to the kinematics
of many landslides, laboratory studies on
9a nds show that the values of 0 • calculated
from the Coulomb-Terzaghi criterion are
usually higher in plane strain than in t r i­
axial compression (whentt,* = O',' ); the
difference decreasing alfcost to zero for
loose sands, but amounting to 4 or 5 for
dense sands. It is also found that the
shear-box test, interpreted in the convent­
ional manner, gives values of 0 ’ a few
degrees lower than plane strain tests over
the full range of porosities, and therefore
lower than the triaxial test in the case of
loose sand (see, for example, Cornforth
19 61). Such complete investigations for
clays have not been made. We know of only
two results comparing the strength in plane-
strain and triaxial compression. For re­
moulded Weald Clay Henkel & Wade (1966) find
- 35* triax ial - horizontal 670 22 5*
When clay is shearing along a pre-existing
slip surface, as in the residual condition,
the kinematics are almost precisely two-
dimensional. Many comparisons have been
made of the strength along cut planes in
samples tested in the shear box and in the
triaxial apparatus. The results are always
identical within the limits of experimental
error (unpublished tests by D .J . Petley at
Imperial College).
3 .2 .6 . Anisotropy. Some anisotropy must be
expected in clays as a consequence of their
mode of formation ( e .g . bedding and one­
dimensional consolidation in sedimentary
deposits) and the presence of discontinuities
which which may exhibit a more or less pro­
nounced degree of preferred orientation.
Extraordinarily little work has been carried
out, however, to investigate the magnitude
of the effect of anisotropy on the peak
strength parameters c' and 0 ' . Tests on
blue London Clay (Table 4) indicate
appreciably lower values of both parameters
when the clay is sheared in a horizontal
direction as compared with results obtained

308
 NATURAL SLOPES AND EM BANKM ENT FOUNDATIONS
from compression testa on samples with
their axes either v e rt ic a l0r horizontal and
therefore with failure planes cutting
across bedding and the predominantly sub­
horizontal fissures characteristic of this
clay. In larger specimens the effect of
fissures may be more pronounced.
When a pre-existing slip surface Is present
the strength along this surface is at or
close to residual and is therefore, in
general, far lower than the strength in
any other direction.
3 .2 .7 . Undrained strength. The undrained
strength of a clay is determined by tests
in which no overall water content change
is allowed to occur during application of
the shear stresses. Stress-strain curves
in undrained tests may exhibit all degrees
of variation from brittle to plastic
oehaviour, depending on the nature of the
clay, and most normally- or lightly over­
consolidated clays suffer a considerable
loss in strength when remoulded. The
sensitivity (S ^ = ratio of undisturbed to
remoulded undrained strength) is commonly
in the range 2 to 8 for such clays; while
the 'quick' clays often have sensitivities
higher than 50 and are liq uified by re­
moulding at their natural water content.
Over-consolidated clays, and s t if f clays
generally, show little sensitivity.
Indeed the elimination of small fissures
by remoulding may lead to a somewhat great­
er strength than the clay possesses in its
natural state.
When a saturated clay is subjected to a
change in magnitude of an equal all-round
total pressure, without any change in water
content, the undrained strength in a given
direction remains unaltered. Thus the
clay in these conditions behaves, in
respect to changes in totel stress, as a
material with zero angle of shearing
resistance, i . e . 0 and C = K O ^ - C T , ) .
This well known result is a consequence of
the fact that a change in all-round
pressure causes a precisely equal change
in pore pressure, provided the clay is
fully saturated^ and the effective stress­
es therefore remain unaltered.
In the more general case where changes in
the total stressesO'i > CTo ^ are not
equal in magnitude The undrained strength
of a saturated clay is not necessarily in ­
dependent of these stress changes, even
though they have not been allowed to cause
any change in water content. However,
experiments on a non-brittle clay of low
sensitivity (Skempton 4 Sowa 1963) show
differences of undrained strength not
exceeding 3 per cent despite substantial
unequal changes in the principal total
stresses (at constant water content), and
similar experiments on sensitive clays
(Ladd 4 Lambe 1964 and Noorany 4 Seed
1965) reveal maximum differences of about
10 per cent.
309
Thus for practical purposes we can assume
with lit tle error that the undrained strength
of an element of saturated clay retains a
constant value, in a particular direction,
Independent of any changes in total stress
provided no alteration in water content
takes place as a result of these stress
changes.
The effects of anisotropy on undrained
strengths may be appreciable. Not only are
the parameters c 1 and 0 ' likely to be
dependent to some extent on orientation, as
we have seen, but in addition the pore
pressure response to a given stress change
will vary with direction as a result of
anisotropic consolidation pressures (Hansen
4 Gibson 1 9 4 9 ). Data for three normally-
or lightly over-consolidated clayB (K o < l )
are plotted in P i g .13. The strength variat­
ions in the clay from Welland, Ontario
(Lo 1965) are similar to those predicted by
Hansen and Gibson, while the clay from Surte,
Sweden (Jakobson 1952) shows the influence of
bedding as w ell. The San Francisco clay
(Duncan 4 Seed 1966) is intermediate in
behaviour. On a broad view it could be said
that the strength along planes parallel to
bedding, in all three clays, is about 80 to
85 per cent of the strength cjjas measured in
conventional tests with specimens having a
vertical axis, and as the axis of the
specimens approaches the horizontal the
strength remains more or less at this reduced
value.
For the heavily over-consolidated London
Clay the variations exhibit a different
pattern (Fig 1 3 ). The strength parallel to
bedding is about 80 per cent of , but
+ London C lay, Ashford (Ward et a/ 1965)
x London C la y, Wraysbury { Agarwat 1967)
a Clay from Surte (Jakobson 1952)
° San Francisco Bay clay ( Duncan & Seed 1966)
o Clay from Welland ( Lo 1965 )
E ffec t of o r ie n ta t io n on u n d ra in e d s tr e n g t h
Fig. 13
 SKEM PTON and
for smaller Inclinations of the specimen
axis the strength rises quite rapidly;
reaching a value Just greater than c„ in the
clay at a shallow depth at the WrayBbury
site (Agarwal 1967) and nearly 50 per cent
greater than cN in deep samples from Ash­
ford Common (Ward, Marsland 4 Samuels 19 6 5 ).
These relatively high undrained strengths
of the horizontal axis specimens very pro­
bably reflect the high lateral in situ con­
solidation pressures ( K o > l ) in~The London
Clay (Skempton 1 9 6 1 ). In teste of this
kind there is naturally a considerable
scatter among the results from a given site
and also between different sites in the same
clay. Data at present available for the un­
drained strength parallel to bedding in
London Clay, expressed as a ratio of the
strength of vertical specimens, are set out
in Table 5.
Table 5 sampling disturbance.
Ratio of undrained strength of London Clay parallel to
bedding c , and in compression specimens with their axis
normal to bedding c„
Site Clay
Moldon fcrcw*n London Clay shadow
Walton blue London Clay , shallow
Wraysbury
- • •
Ashford ■ ■ deep
■
Clays having a moderate degree of over-
conaolidation are more or less isotropically
consolidated (Ko 2 f 1 . 0 ) . They would be ex­
pected to show little effect of specimen
orientation, unless the bedding had a strong
influence on c' and 0 ’ . Such isotropic clays
undoubtedly exist, as shown by Jakobaon
(1965) and Aas (1 9 6 7 ).
3 .3 Discrepancies Between Field and Laboratory
StrengtKs
There are at least six ways in which the
sample strength as measured in the laboratory
can differ from the field or in situ strength.
3 .3 .1 Sampling. Bad or Indifferent sampling
methode are tne most obvious source of error.
As a generalisation, sampling will tend to
reduce the strength of a clay; though it
should at once be pointed out that for other
reasons, such as size of specimen and rate
of testing, the laboratory strength may
nevertheless be greater than the relevant in
eltu strength.
In soft clays even the moat perfect sampling
methods will lead to some reduction in un­
HUTCHINSON
drained strength, due to the changes in
total stresses inevitably associated with
removing the sample from the ground
(Skempton 4 Sowa 1963, Ladd 4 Lambe 1964,
Noorany 4 Seed 1 9 6 5 ). Mechanical disturb­
ance, which can be minimised by cutting
blocks from a trial pit or by using thin-
wall piston samplers in boreholes, must be
a further source of strength reduction in
soft clays. The effective stress parameters
o' and j t • are probably Influenced much less
by sampling than are undrained strengths.
S t iff Intact clays are perhaps the easiest
materials to sample, unless they contain
large stones or boulders. The undrained
strength of st iff fissured clays measured
on borehole samples may be less than the
strength of specimens trimmed from hand-cut
blocks (Ward, Marsland 4 Samuels 1965) or,
when the clay is not so hard and b rittle ,
there may be no difference (Skempton 4 La-
Rochelle 1 9 6 5 ). Here again the parameters
o' and ft are probably not sensitive to minor
D ifficu lties associated with sampling, and
the necessarily rather small size of sample
Size of
used in laboratory testing, can to some ex­
specimens * Reference tent be overcome by measuring the shear
strength of clays in situ. Large shear box
1*' x 3* 0 88 Bishop t Little 1967
C x 8" 0 86 ■ ■ ■
tests made in triaT-pits offer a promising
1*‘ x 3' 0 78 Bishop 1948 method (Hutchinson 4 Rolfsen 1962, Bishop &
Little 1967, Marsland 4 Butler 1 9 6 7 ). Plate-
1*'x 3' 0 75 Agarwal 1967
12* x 24“ 0 76 ii n
bearing tests in boreholes of at least 12
l l ' x 3* 0 83 Ward et al 1965 ins diameter (preferably 18 or 24 ins dia­
meter) have led to satisfactory determinat­
ions of the undralned shear strength of
London Clay en masse (Hooper 4 Butler 1966).
The use of tTie v ane test for measuring the
in situ undrained strength of soft clays is
well known (see, for example, Cadling 4
Odenstad 1950) and specially designed vanes
are now being employed for investigating
strength variations within anisotropic clays
(Aas 1 9 6 7 ).
3 . 3 .2 Sample Orientation. The vast major­
ity of measurements concerning the strength
of clays are made ( i ) on triaxial compress­
ion specimens with a vertical axis, ( i i )
on shear box specimens with a horizontal
shear plane or ( i i i ) by means of in situ
vane tests measuring an undrained strength
controlled essentially by the strength on
vertical planes. From what has been said
already on the subject of anisotropy it is
clear that the strength along a slip surface
in the ground may vary considerably from the
laboratory strength measured by any of these
procedures, due solely to differences in
orientation.
3 . 3 .3 Sample S iz e . Ideally, samples should
be sufficiently large to contain a represent­
ative selection of all the particles and all
the discontinuities in the clay. For Intact
clays, except clay t i l l s , the ordinary
laboratory specimens are probably adequate
for practical purposes, from this point o f
310
 NATURAL SLOPES AND EM BANKMENT FOUNDATIONS
view. When testing tills, however, it is boreholes and large diameter pile tests
often necessary to discard or ignore the have been added to the Table for interest.
larger stones and boulders. This is regret- The mode of failure is different and direct
able, but the errors involved are likely to comparison with triaxial tests is not easy.
be rather email as the properties of the Also the plate and pile tests were carried
till will be controlled chiefly by its matrix out at greater depths in the London Clay
(typically grading from fine gravel to clay where fissuring is not so intense. Never­
size material) and, fortunately, the matrix theless the data in Table 6 suggest that,
is usually insensitive to disturbance and other things being equal ( e .g . orientation
free from structural discontinuities. and rate of testing) the in situ undrained
strength of London Clay T i around 65 to 75
For fissured clays the size of sample can per cent of the conventional l i " x 3" tri­
play an important role. Some information axial compression strength.
relating to the undrained strength of Lon­
don Clay is given in Table 6 for triaxial Less is known concerning the effect of sam­
specimens of various sizes, all tested with ple size on the effective stress parameters
a vertical axis. The 1-j" x 3" triaxial c 1 and 0 ' of s t if f fissured clay. For
sample is taken as standard, this being the Barton Clay (Marsland & Butler 1967) the
size and type of specimen mostly used in parameters obtained in tr ia x ia l tests on
routine testing. A wide scatter is usually 1-J-" x 3 " (vertical) specimens are
found among the results due principally to
fissures which may or may not be present in c ’ = 230 l b /s q .f t . 0 ' = 24°
the test specimen. The average strength of
a considerable number of tests must there­ and on 3 " x 6 " or 5" x 10" specimens
fore be taken. Generally, specimens contain­
ing an obvious fissure are discarded and so, c ’ = 150 l b /s q .f t . 0 ' = 2 3 .5 °
to that extent, the it " x 3 " tests may be
but Jj] situ tests using a 2 ft square shear
regarded as giving an average value for a
box, with a horizontal plane, give
conventional intact strength. The true in­
tact strength i s , in fact, much greater; as
c' = 170 l b /s q .f t 0 ' = 27°
shown by tests on small pieces of clay care­
fully selected as being entirely free from
Over the range of effective normal pressures
any fissures.
typically encountered in landslide problems
(say 500 l b /s q .f t . to 2500 l b /s q .f t ) there
is lit tle difference between the strengths
in the large shear box and those obtained
Table 6
from 1-J" triaxial specimens. The latter are,
however, considerably less than the strength
S ize effect o r undrained strength of London Clay of small intact pieces of the clay. Similar­
Relative strength ly , the intact strength parameters of the
S ize and type
of test Wraysbury Kensal Green Maldon Various sites Wembley blue London Clay at Wraysbury (Bishop 1967)
(1) (2 ) (3 ) (4 ) (5) are
l " x 1 * tria x ia l specimens (a ) 19 15
1$*x 3* • ■ 10 10 10 10 10 c' = 1500 l b /s q .f t . 0' = 28°
A* x 8* ■ ■ (b ) 0 66 0 82
6" x 12’ . . 0 64 in contrast to the following results from
12* x 24* ■ ■ 0 66 l j t ” ' specimens with the same orientation
12‘ x 27" plate tests 0 82
£8’x 72" pile te sts 0 74
c' = 670 l b /s q .f t . 0 = 2 2 .5 °
(a ) intact d ay lumps (b) for comparison , Barton Clay gives a
relative strength from 0 65 to 0 85 ( M arsland & Butler 1967)
At the same site , tests to measure the
(1) A garw al 1967 (2) Authors' file s (31 Bishop & Little 1967 strength along fissure and joint surfaces
(4) Hooper & Butler 1966 (5) Whitaker & Cooke 1966
(Skempton, Schuster & Petley 1969) lead to
the parameters

c' = 140 l b /s q .f t . 0 ' = 1 8 .5 °

At the site of the iVraysbury tests summarised All these results refer to peak strengths.
in Table 6 the average fissure size is about The residual strength parameters for both
1.4 ins. It is therefore to be expected that the Barton and the blue London Clay are
large specimens such as those with a diameter approximately
of 12 ins and a height of 24 ins would in­
clude a fairly representative fissure pattern, cr ' = 0 0'r = 15°
and give a strength not very different from
that of the olay mass; in this case about Clearly it is a matter of importance to
measure peak values of c 1 and 0 ' in large
65 per cent of the conventional intact stren­
samples of st iff fissured clays, and until
gth and 35 per cent of the true intact more results are available considerable
strength. uncertainty is bound to be attached to the
Intermediate size specimens may approach the interpretation of slope stability studies In
in situ condition but with wide fissure this type of material.
spacing even the 12" x 24" specimens could
be too small. Results from plate tests in

311
 SKEM PTO N and HUTCHINSON
3. 3.4 Rate of Shearing. Very little
information le available on the effects of
rate of shearing, or time to fa ilu re , on the
peak strength of clays in terms of effective
stress. Bishop & Henkel (1957) report drain­
ed tests on remoulded Weald Clay in which the
time to failure ( i . e . to peak strength) was
varied from 1 day to 2 weeks. The proport­
ional decrease in strength over this range
was practically the same for normally- and
over-consolidated clay, amounting to about
3.5 per cent per log cycle of time ( F i g .1 4 ).
Srrnn* 1hr 1doy 1w«*k
Time to (peak) failure
Residual strengths, on cut planes, have
been measured in brown London Clay and
weathered Edale Shale (Petley, unpublished
tests at Imperial College) at rates of shear
ranging from 2 cms/year up to 20 cms/day,
see Fig. 15. The decrease in strength varies
from 0 .5 to 2 per cent per log cycle of
shearing rate.
It is interesting to see what these results
imply in practical terms. The drained
strength of a clay is measured in laboratory
tests usually with a time to (peak) failure
of the order 1 day. I f the strength falls
3.3 per cent per log cycle of time, the
strength corresponding to a time topailure
of 3 years will be 90 per cent of fne lab­
oratory value, 87 per cent in 30 years and
so on. Thus in long-term slope failures the
peak strengths may well be 10 or 15 per cent
lower than laboratory values due to this
rheological effect.
The variation in residual strength is much
less. Hesidual strengths are measured in
the laboratory at rates of shear typically
of the order 1 cm per day. An exceptionally
slow rate of movement in nature is 1 cm per
year, yet from the results in F i g .15 the
corresponding strength would be only 2 per
cent less than the laboratory value; while
rate of shearing
F ig . 15
the strength at rates approaching 100 cm/
day might be not more than 5 per cent
above the laboratory value.
The effects of different times to failure on
the peak undrained strengths of three clays
are shown in F i g .1 4 b . For the Cambridge
clay (Casagrande 4 Wilson 1951) the strength
f a lls by about 6 per cent per log cycle of
time. Brown London Clay (Skempton 4 La-
Rochelle 1965) exhibits a rather greater drop
1month 1ytor
in strength, and this is due principally to
the migration of pore water into the shear
zone from less highly strained regions in the
clay. The soft normally-consolidated Fornebu
clay (Bjerrum, Simons 4 Torblaa 1958) shows
Fig. 14 a very considerable drop in strength with
Increasing time to failure (at least 14 per
cent per log cycle of time) caused essentially
by increasing pore pressures.
Undrained tests, in routine work, are usually
carried out at a rate of strain leading to
failure in about 15 minutes. A failure in
the fie ld taking place in the short time of
one day would develop an undrained strength
10 per cent less than the 15 minute laboratory
value in the Cambridge clay, about 12 per
cent less in brown London Clay and 30 per
cent less in the Fornebu clay. If the time
to failure in the fie ld amounted to 1 month
the relevant strength of the latter clay
would be over-estimated by about 80 per cent.
This particular clay may be exceptionally
sensitive to time effects, but clearly there
can be serious errors in stability calculation
based on conventional rates of laboratory
testing unless appropriate correction factors
are determined and applied.
3 .3 .5 Softening. The removal of load by
excavating a cutting will initiate a process
of softening. Owing to the low permeability
of clays, especially i f intact, the final
state of equilibrium under the reduced effect­
ive stresses (the long-term condition) may
not be attained until many years after ex­
cavation. Rapid removal of material by a
landslide or erosion at the toe of a slope
312
 NATURAL SLOPES AND EM BANKMENT FOUNDATIONS
is equivalent to excavation.
With intact clays the consequent increase
in water content is presumably simulated
in slow drained tests on 6mall samples
carried out over the range of effective
pressures which will obtain in the long­
term field condition.
In s t if f fissured clays, however, lateral
expansion following, the load reduction may
cause some opening of fissures and an
increase in mass permeability. Terzaghi
( 1936b) drew attention to the fact that
the intact pieces of clay are sufficiently
strong to allow a fissure to remain open,
even at considerable depths, and softening
can then proceed from the face of the open
fissures under zero effective stress.
This leads to a reduction in average
strength, which in turn allows more deforma­
tions to occur: other fissures then open up
and the process continues. Load must
sooner or later be transferred back on to
the previously softened clay and so,
eventually, unless overall failure inter­
venes, the strength of the clay mass could
in the limit fall to the normally-consolid­
ated value.
If the softened clay is not sheared 0 ’ will
remain essentially constant, in most clays,
but c 1 will tend to zero. Hence the effect
of internal softening of st iff fissured
clays may in the course of time result in
strengths far lower than those measured in
conventional drained tests. I f , in
addition, the softened clay is sheared past
its peak, 0 ' will also decrease and the
discrepancy w ill be st ill greater.
The water content of partially saturated
clays can be substantially increased by
heavy and prolonged r a in fa ll. Thus it is
necessary to give ample opportunity for
the absorption of water when measuring the
strength of these clays.
In end-of-construction problems in
saturated clays there i s , by definition,
a negligible overall water content change.
Nevertheless, as previously mentioned,
softening can occur locally in over-
consolidated clays as a result of internal
migration of pore water (Skempton 4
LaRochelle 19 6 5 ). In principal, this
effect should find expression in the results
of undrained tests carried out with a time
to failure appropriate to the practical
conditions: e .g . several days rather than
the very short period of, say, 15 minutes
usually allowed in routine testing.
Once a clay has been broken up by landslid-
ing and/or weathering its strength can be
greatly reduced by rainfall or ground water
seepage. Colluvial slopes and slide debris
313
show the influence of this process, which is
in some respects similar to the softening of
stiff fissured clays, and the results are
still more marked in earthflows and mudflowB.
3 .3 ,6 Progressive Failure. In general the
ratio of strength to shear stress is far
from uniform along the length of a potential
slip surface. Therefore the peak strength,
in a first-time slide, must be reached at
some points before others. Moreover, unless
the clay is an ideally plastic non-brittle
material, the strength at these points must
decrease as further movements take place,
and when overall failure finally occurs the
mobilised strength will be less than the
average peak strength along the slip surf­
ace. The more brittle the clay the greater
the difference is likely to be.
The problem of progressive failure has long
been recognised, and has been discussed in
several recent papers (Haefeli 1965, Peck
1967, Turnbull 4 Hvorslev 1967, Bjerrum
1967, Bishop 1 9 6 7 ), but no quantitative
methods are yet available for predicting
its magnitude in practice.
Once a progressive failure is initiated it
may proceed quite rapidly. Indeed, i f all
conditions remained strictly constant, only
the rheological decrease in strength could
introduce a time effect.
There are, nevertheless, numerous records of
cuttings and natural slopes remaining stable
or undergoing only very slow creep movements
for many years before the final period of
accelerated movement leading to failure.
These may be referred to as 'delayed fa il­
u r e s '. They can, and probably always do
contain a component of true progressive
failure but in addition other factors are
likely to be involved, such as pore pressure
changes, softening and opening of fissures,
and also the gradual liberation of re­
coverable strain energy (Bjerrum 19 67).
4. STABILITY ANALYSIS
Although considerable advances in slope
stability studies have been made, particu­
larly during the past two decades, these
have been confined very largely to the
rotational, compound and translational
types of landslide. Falls have seldom
been investigated quantitatively and no
stability analysis seems yet to have been
made of a flow. Still less attention has
been paid to other forms of mass-movement
in clay slopes such as creep, cambering
and valley bulging.
 SKEMPTON and HUTCHINSON
4.1 Limit Equilibrium Methods
In principle the question of slope behaviour
could be decided by making an analysis of
the distribution of displacements or
stresses throughout i t . At present, however,
there is generally insufficient knowledge
of the ^n situ stresses and stress-deforma-
tion-time properties of soils to make this
approach practicable. As a result it is
general practice to use limit equilibrium
methods to assess the security of soil
slopes.
In all methods of limit equilibrium analysis,
a condition of incipient failure is postu­
lated along a continuous slip surface of
known or assumed shape. A quantitative
estimate of the factor of safety of the
slope with respect to shear strength,
preferably defined as the ratio of the
available shear strength of the soil to
that required to maintain equilibrium
(Bishop 1 9 5 4 ), is then obtained by examin­
ing the equilibrium of the soil mass above
this rupture surface. The problem is
usually assumed to be one of plane strain.
The error involved in applying a two-
dimensional stability analysis to a three-
dimensional landslide w ill be on the safe
side. Kenney (1956) has shown that the
magnitude of this error is unlikely to
exceed 10$ .
In practice, the actual value of P for a
elope is known only at the moment of failure,
when it is equal to unity. Thoroughly
Investigated case records of slope failures
thus assume great importance as they provide
the only opportunity of checking the
reliability of our methods of stability
analysis.
4 .2 Short-Term and Long-Term Conditions
When a cutting is made in saturated so il,
the change in pore pressure in an element
of the adjacent soil is given by (Skempton
1954):
Au = b ^ A o '5 + a ( A ( J 1 - ^ J 5 )| ...
As in this case B= 1, the expression can
be rearranged in the form:
■ < A ° i 2" A a ’ ) ♦ U -iH A O i-A a ,)
...
The reduction in average principal stress
resulting from the formation of the cutting
will thus lead to a decrease in pore
pressure. The associated shear stress will
also bring about a reduction of pore
pressure unless A is greater than &,
neglecting the effect of changes in direc­
tion of the principal stresses (B i6hop 4
Bjerrum 1960J. The stage at which the
pore pressures resulting from the formation
of the cutting, as defined by equation ( 7 ) ,
are fully developed ie referred to as the
short-term or end-of-construction condition.
With the passage of time these out-of-
balance pore pressures continuously adjust
themselves until eventually they are every­
where in equilibrium with the steady seep­
age flow pattern appropriate to the new
slope profile. This final stage is referred
to as the long-term condition. It is
separated from the short-term condition by
a period of pore pressure redistribution.
These changes in pore pressure at a
representative point during and after the
excavation of a cut in clay are illustrated
for the values A= 1 and A= 0 , together with
the associated changes in factor of safety,
in F i g .16.
In the more permeable so ils, such as sands
and gravels, the period of pore pressure
adjustment is very short and, except under
conditions of transient loading, stability
probleme w ill fall into the long-term
category. In clays however, particularly
i f they are intact, the mass permeability
is so low that the intermediate period of
pore pressure adjustment may last for
months or years after completion of the
cutting. It is necessary, therefore, in
such soils to decide whether a given
stability problem ie to be categorised as
short-term, long-term or intermediate.
4 .3 Effective and Total Stress Methods of
Analysis
Whatever method of limit equilibrium
analysis is used to arrive at the factor
of safety of a clay Blope, it 1s evident
that this cannot be calculated without
knowledge of the appropriate values of the
shear strength of the clay. The determina­
tion of the appropriate strength parameters
constitutes the chief problem of slope
stability analysis: it is discussed in
Section 3. Throughout the present Section
it is assumed that these are known.
(6) 4 .3 .1 Effective stress analysis. In terns
of effective stresses the shear strength
mobilised under conditions of limiting
equilibrium is :
• - f * <«■„-»> ^ ••• (8>
where F ie the factor of safety defined
(7) earlier. It follows that in order to make
a stability analysis in terms of effective
stresses it is necessary to know the
magnitude of both the total normal stress
01 and the pore pressure u at all points
or the actual or potential failure surface.
In all but special cases CFn is statically
indeterminate: its magnitude can be
approximated to however, to a sufficient
degree of accuracy, by the available methode
of analysis. The values of u are usually
314
 NATURAL SLOPES AND EM BANKMENT FO UNDATIO NS

_ ^ ^ : ~ Qr , ginol G.W.L.
‘ * ^ F in a l G.W .L.
Potential slip su rfa c e
End of excavation P W .P , A=1

I---------- End of excavation P.W.P. A= 0

Equip otential
line

Rapid Pore pressure |P o re p re ssu re equilibrium

Excavn re d istrib u tio n | (Steady seep age)
Original G W .L.
V
\\ .A=1 Fin a l G.W.L.
/ ------ -
V

F,
F a c to r
of
sa fe ty

Changes in u and F arising from the exavation of a cut in clay

a fte r Bish o p & B je rru m . (1 9 6 0 )

Fig. 16

measured by piezometers or estimated from The factB that in this case the mobilised
flow nets. An analysis in terms of effect­ shear strength is independent of the total
ive stresses can, in principle, be made at normal stress on the slip surface and that
any time during the life of a slope ( P i g .16). the pore pressure does not need to be
In practice, however, such analyses are separately measured lead to considerable
usually made for slopes in the long-term simplification in the corresponding methode
condition, when the pore pressures u are of stability analysis. The condition that
most easily determined. 0 U = 0 obtains in the laboratory only for
undrained tests on saturated samples, inter­
4 .3 .2 Total stress analysis. In terms of preted in terms of total stresses, and is a
total stresses the shear strength mobilised direct consequence of the principle of
under conditions of limiting equilibrium i s , effective stress. Application of the total
for 0 U= 0 : stress or 0 U = 0 method of stability
analysis in the field must therefore be
limited to those cases where similar
conditions apply. It is thus restricted

315
 SKEM PTON and HUTCHINSON
to slope stability problems in saturated of soil within ABCD with the moment of the
clays in which insufficient time has shear forces acting on the slip surface.
elapsed since formation of the slope for The normal effective force (P- ul) on the
any overall change of water content to base of the slice considered, denoted by
occur. P*, iB found by resolving vertically.
Thence, assuming that(Xn - X_+ 1 )= 0 , the
4.4 Mechanics of Stability Analysis following expression for P 1 b obtained:

A comprehensive and critical examination

of the many methods of stability analysis
F = *c ’ b+ (W- ub)tan0
now available, however desirable, is not - 2 KI'
attempted here. We merely make some brief
,W einot ' H ]
comments on those methods which we have
I'ound most useful. The methods are sub­ ... ( 10 )
divided according to the shape of the
where m = cose* ( 1 + .tan^ .'-) ... ( 11)
failure surface. The effects of partial *
submergence, other external loads and
tension cracks (Terzaghi 1943; Bishop 1954;
Terzaghi 4 Peck 1967) are not considered. As the term F appears on both Bides of
equation ( 1 0 ) the solution has to be obtained
In effective stress analyses, where the by a process of successive approximation.
variation in O ^ ' around the slip surface Convergence is very rapid and the method
is of fundamental importance, and in general can be carried out easily by hand or by
when the slope profile is irregular or when computer. (Little 4 Price 1 9 5 8 ). Values
differing shear parameters obtain on of m^ can be read off a chart for any
various parts of the failure surface, it is assumed value of F (Janbu et a l . 1956;
convenient to proceed by the method of Terzaghi 4 Peck 1 9 6 7 ). A (Tfmensionless
slices. This may be dispensed with how­ form of the Bishop Simplified Method,
ever, i f preferred, in total stress analyses permitting rapid evaluation of the factor
involving regular slope profiles. of safety for simple slopes, is presented
by Bishop & Morgenstern ( I 9 6 0 ) . This
4 .4 .1 Circular slip surfaces. treatment has been extended to the rapid
drawdown case by Morgenstern (1 9 6 3 ).
(a) Effective stress ( c ' 0 1) analysis
A method which is sufficiently accurate for Equation (10) can be rearranged in the form:
most purposes is that given by Bishop (1954)
and generally termed the Bishop Simplified
Method ( F i g .1 7 ). This is derived by F = ■ 1----. 7 ( C 1 + P. tan#1) ... (12)
equating the moment about 0 of the weight sin *
where P ' is given by the expression:

» ..v c 'l sinet

w-ub-- -j y . . . (13)
C0BoC+ tanj^sinot

(Whitman 4 Bailey 1967)

Both numerator and denominator of equation

(13) can become zero or negative for low
values of F, the former when, in addition,
pore pressures are so high that:

u + c' (14)

and the latter when of has high negative

values such as at the toe of a deep failure
surface. In either case unrealistic local
values of P 1 are obtained. The second case
is of the greater practical importance but
occurs so seldom as scarcely to affect the
utility of the method. In general the
error resulting from use of the Bishop
Simplified Method is 7# or less and is
usually under 2% (Whitman 4 Bailey l o c .c i t .) .
Forces in the circu la r arc analysis

oft«r Bithop
A simpler but considerably less accurate
method of analysis for circular slips is

F ig .17

316
 NATURAL SLOPES AND EM BANKMENT FOUNDATIONS
provided by the Conventional Method* of the latter may well under-estimate the
slices (Krey 1 9 2 6 ). In this, after equat­ factor of safety by over 20$. In more
ing moments as before, the forces on a extreme cases the error can rise much above
slice ( F i g .17) are resolved in a direction this (Bishop lo c . c i t . ) .
normal to the slip surface and the assump­
tion is made that:

Table 7
2 ^ ' . ^ (Xn " Xn+1 )0080<- (En- V l 1811” 1} 0
Factor of safety
Shape of cross-section
... (15) 1 F,
Landslide
Conventional Bishop
The safety factor is then given by the (a) Circular
(P= Wcosot) (simplified)
expression:
^64*
Northolt 094 10
d/LsO-14"^— —
F = c' 1+ (Wcos - ul)tan#
-W —
sine* s r ° «J»S85*
Lodalen 0-79 10
(16) — dA. =0-20

This i 6 identical with equation (12) with Drammen J 079 10

P 1 defined by the expression: / .y d/LsO-19

Conventional Morgenstern
= W co sot- ul (17) (b) Non-circular (P= Wcosot)
Janbu & Price

Waltons 0 98 103 10
In other words, the total normal force P ---C==r:<:r~d/L=a06^
Wood
and the shear force S on the base of a
slice are simply taken as W cosot and Wsinat Guildford 097 100 10
respectively. It is evident that P 1 in d /L sa 0 9
equation (17) w ill become zero or negative
d/LsOtl
when: Sudbury 096 095 10
Hill
u s. 2 (18)
— V cos oi Folkestone ^ v x_ _ ^ j l Z U 0 1 7 ^
bZ ^ 0-92 0 97 10
Warren

Thus, i f this ratio = 0 . 5 , P 1 w ill be

negative for values of oC excess of 45 • if = central angle of arc shear param eters chosen to give F =10

As a result of this tendency to under­

estimate the normal effective forces acting
on steeply inclined parts of the slip
surface, the values of F obtained by the
Conventional Method are also, in general,
under-estimated. Bishop (1954) demonstrates
that this error increases with increasing
central angle W subtended by the arc of
failure and with increasing pore pressure
u. Some comparisons of analyses of
circular landslides in natural slopes,
made by both the Bishop Simplified and the
Conventional Methods (Table 7 ) * * , show that
(b) Total stress ( 0 „ = 0) analysis.
Under 0„= 0 conditions the shear strength
s mobilised is simply cu/ F (equation ( 9 ) ) .
The fact that this is independent of the
normal stress on the slip surface results
in a great sim plification. Merely equating
moments, as before, yields the expression
for F. I f the method of slices is used
this has the form:

* This method is also referred to else­

where as the Fellenius Method, the U .S .B .R . (19)
Method and the Ordinary Method.

i Kjaernsli 4 Simons (1962) point out that

the error of the Conventional Method also
tends to increase with the inclination of
the chord of the failure arc.
** The data for the slides at Lodalen and
Drammen are taken from Sevaldson (1956)
and Kjaernsli 4 Simons (1 9 6 2 ), respectively.
The data for the other landslides are
calculated at Imperial College.
This is exact, and is easily adaptable to
irregular slope profiles and non-uniform
Bhear strength conditions. Dimensionless
forms of the ?SU = 0 analysis for simple
slopes have been developed by Taylor (1937)
for the case where c„ ie constant with
depth and by Gibson 4 Morgenstern (1962)
and Hunter 4 Schuster (1968) for the case
of cu increasing linearly with depth.
Taylor's work is extended to some more
complex situations by Janbu (1 9 5 4 ).

317
 SKEM PTON and HUTCHINSON
4.4.2 Non-circular slip surfaces.
(a)
Effective stress ( c ' 0 1) analysis
Of the several methods of non-circular
analysis now available, that developed by
Morgenstern & Price (1965; 1967) is one of
mo most satisfactory. It employs the
method of slices and satisfies all the
boundary and equilibrium conditions, includ­
ing moment equilibrium of the individual
slices. As a result the d iffic u ltie s of
calculation are such as to require the use
of a computer. In order to make the problem
statically determinate the assumption is
made that the forces E (or E ') and X on the
sides of the slices are related by the
expression:
X (2 0 )
\.f(x)
E b+ (ff- ub)tan0
where \ is a scale factor determined in
the solution and f(x ) is an arbitrary
function concerning the distribution of
the internal forces. For each solution it
is necessary to examine the implied state
of stress in the soil mass above the failure
surface and to ensure, by suitable choice
of the function f ( x ) , that this is
physically admissible.
The accuracy of the Morgenstern-Price Method
has not yet been fully explored. The
limited available data suggest that the
value of F obtained is usually affected by
less than 6% by various reasonable assump­
tions concerning the function f ( x ) .
Application of the Morgenstern-Price
Method to circular slip surfaces gives
approximately the same results as the
Bishop Simplified Method.
Other methods of analysis for non-circular
6lip surfaces, of which we have no experi­
ence, have been developed by Kenney (1956)
and Nonveiller (196 5).
The Conventional Method of analysis has
already been described in connection with
circular slip surfaces, for which its use
was discouraged. Experience indicates
however that this simple and rapid method
can prove remarkably successful i f applied
to non-circular surfaces, especially i f a
substantial portion of the slip surface is
predominantly planar. The few examples of
such analyses collected in Table 7 suggest
that the accuracy of the method decreases
with increase of the ratio d /L , defined in
Table 7 and by Janbu et a l . (1 9 5 6 ).
This method becomes exact for planar slip
surfaces in homogeneous soils, providing
that the horizontal component of any
external loads is zero, since the assump­
tion expressed by equation (15) is then
precisely realised; o ( being constant.
This result is also given by the Conventional
A rather more accurate method of analysing
non-circular slip surfaces fairly rapidly
by hand is given by Janbu, e t a l. ( 1956) .
318
This employe the method of slices and by
resolving horizontally yields the expres­
sion:
y ( B l )
Z+ K cos /
F = 1. ... (2 1 )
2 W tano<
The symbols are as used previously ( F i g .17)
except for f 0 which is a correction factor
depending on the shear parameters and the
form of the slip , and takes account of the
influence on the factor of safety of the
vertical shear forces between the slices.
For a stability analysis in terms of
effective stresses, introduction of the
appropriate expression for shear strength
leads to the following expression for F:
. z [ - (2 2 )
W tan c<
. 2 . ( 1 + tanoCtanJ?') ,
where n = coso< ■*------- ir--- y ‘ = m .cobo{
* Q(
... (23)
and m is given by equation ( 1 1 ) .
oC
Equation (22) reduces to the expression for
the Bishop Simplified Method (equation 10)
multiplied by the correction factor f Q.
The few results of stability analyses of
non-circular Blip surfatee in Table 7*
suggest that the accuracy of the Janbu
Method is usually Intermediate between that
of the Morgenstern-Price and the Conventional
Methods.
(b) Total stress (fl„ = 0) analysis.
Non-circular J0U = 0 analyses appear rarely
to have been made. A semi-empirical method
of making such an analysis is provided by
substituting the average undrained Bhear
strength on the base of a slice for b in
equation (21) (Janbu, et a l . 19 5 6 ).
4 . 4 .3 Planar slides in in finite slopes
(a) Effective stress ( c ' 0 ' ) analysis
The forces acting in the analysis of a slide
on a planar surface of failure in an infin­
ite slope are shown in Fig..18. In this
case the internal forces on the sides of
any slice are equal and opposite and there­
fore cancel out. It is then easily shown
that the factor of safety against sliding
is given by:
c'. + (tfz cos^/3 - lOtan#'
F
(24)
% z sinyS cos/3
Method which 1 b exact in these conditions.
* In these, f is taken = 1 in the Morgenstern-
Price Method.
 NATURAL SLOPES AND EM BANKMENT FO UNDATIO NS

cords ie supremely Important. Our know­

ledge of elope problems in claye can be
aesessed only by measuring the properties
of clays under carefully controlled con­
ditions of test, using these properties in
a stability analysis, and B e e i n g to what
extent the results agree with field obser­
vations.

Much progress along these lines has been

made, especially in the paet fifteen years
since, for example, the firet specialist
conference on slope stability held at
Stockholm in 1954. Yet a general survey
of the literature leaves no doubt that
there is great scope for future work. Un­
certainties etill remain even in the more
intensively studied categories of elidee
and clay typee. Some forms of landslide
F orces in the infinite slope a n a ly s is have scarcely been touched analytically.
a fte r H o iM I (19141 and Sktm plon t D a Liry 11957) Deecriptions are frequently incomplete in
one or several aspects. Occasionally the
basic interpretation of the field evidence
or test data is in doubt.
Fig. 18
In the following pages we summarise a num­
ber of selected case records to give an
appreciation of the present state of the
Two special cases of steady seepage may be
science. So far as possible attention is
mentioned.
drawn to d iffic u ltie s and gaps in our know­
ledge. For reasons given above the re­
For horizontal flow out of the elope
cords are considered under three main head­
u = J wz and: ings:

1. first-time slides, short-term

c '+ z O ( c o e ? p -tfw)tan0 '
2. first-time slides, long-term
P = (25) 3. elidee on pre-existing slip
% z sin ^3 cos^J
surfaces.

(Haefeli 1948) No analytical case records can be quoted

for earthflows, mudflows or eolifluction
For the more common case of flow parallel sheet movements.
to tne slope and the ground-water table at
a vertical height mz above the slip surface A brief treatment of elope development in
(F i g .1 8 ), clay 6trata is given in Section 6 .

u = ^ w®z c o s ^ and: 5 .1 Firet-time Slidee; Short-term

In this category we describe two caee records,

one in soft intact clay, the other in stiff
c '+ z c o s ^ ( jf- m 5f_)tan0 '
fissured clay. There appear to be no fully
F = ----- — -------- ----- ... (26)
documented records relating to st iff intact
z s in ^3 cos clays.
f
(Skempton & Delory 1957) 5 .1 .1 Congress Street, Chicago. Detaile
of this slide have been published by
(b) Total stress (Jjju = 0) a n a l y s lIreland
e. (1 9 5 4 ). Failure occurred during
The safety factor of an infinite slope excavation of an open cut in Chicago for
against sliding under = 0 conditions is the Congress Street superhighway in 1952.
given by the expression: The slide took the form of a simple rota­
tional movement on a more or less circular
slip surface, limited in depth by stiff
clay of a Wisconsin age moraine ( F i g .1 9 ).
Apart from a cover of f i l l , placed in the
F = . . . (27) late 19th century, and a relatively thin
layer of sand and s ilt , the slide was loca­
ted principally in soft to firm intact clay
ANALYTICAL CASE RECORDS (typical index properties w = 25, LL = 32,
PL = 1 8 ), the upper portion of which had
From the scientific and practical points been subjected to some desiccation before
of view the study of analytical case re­

319
 SKEM PTON and HUTCHINSON
the sand was deposited. The claye above The slide occurred while excavation was still
the moraine are probably tills laid down by taking place. The failure was therefore not
ice sheets under water. delayed; and although the rate of shearing
may well have been considerably slower than
in the laboratory tests, we do not think
that the difference between field and labo­
ratory strengths, on this account, is likely
to exceed the order of 10 per cent. Finally,
the Chicago clays have a rather low sensiti­
vity (St 2C 4) and the strengths as measured
on hand-cut blocks are probably very close
to the in situ values.

In conclusion, then, the calculated factors

of safety range from about 1 .1 with no cor­
rections to about 0 .9 with perhaps an over-
generous allowance for such effects a6 pro­
gressive fa ilu re , rate of testing and fissures
SUdt in (h< C w ig r t u SJrert Open Cut C hicago
in the upper clay.
ofMr Irelond 11954)

This result is very satisfactory, but atten­

tion must be drawn to the great need for
further case records within the category
of first-time short-term slides in soft
Fig. 19 intact clays. As well ae the effects of
rate of shear, the strength in some clays
The undrained shear strengths of the clays can vary markedly with orientation and dir­
were measured by compression tests on ection of shearing, and hence also with the
Ohelby-tube samples and corrected for sample type of test. These factors are discussed
disturbance by means of correlations estab­ in Section 3 of the present paper, and have
lished between the strengths of tube samples been strongly emphasised by Kenney (196 8).
and of specimens from hand-cut blocks (Peck They do not in themselves invalidate the
1940). Reasonable assumptions were made principle of the 0 U = 0 analysis, but they
cor.cerning the shear strength in the sand point to the necessity for thorough field
and f i l l layers, but these play a minor and laboratory investigations of short-term
role in the analysis. slides so that their effect can be gauged
in practical terms.
On the most critical circle , according to
the 0 „ = 0 analysis, the calculated factor 5 .1 .2 Bradwell. (Skempton & LaRochelle
of safety was 1 .1 1 . As was to be expected, 19 6 5 ). Two slides occurred in the deep ex­
the critical circle lay further back within cavation for a nuclear reactor at Bradwell,
the slope than the actual slip surface Essex, in the London Clay. Slide I took
(Skempton 1945, 1948a). place on 24 March 1957 about 5 days after
completion of this part of the excavation
The Chicago clays probably show little ( F i g .20) and Slide II followed at an adjac­
variation in strength resulting from aniso­ ent section 19 days after excavation. The
tropy. The presence of some cracks and London Clay is overlain by 9 ft of soft
Joints, due to desiccation, in the upper Postglacial marsh clay and 1 1 .5 ft of f i l l ,
layer of clay may mean that its laboratory placed as the excavation proceeded. At
strength exceeds the field strength. The Slide II the f i l l was 8 ft thick. The
data already given in Section 3 .3 suggest weather during these operations was dry
that a 30 per cent reduction is probably and continued so throughout the period lead­
sufficient to allow for this effect even in ing to Slide I I . Ground water level was
an intensely fissured clay. In the present located within the marsh clay from which
case a reduction of, say, 20 per cent would there were small seepage flows on to the
seem to be ample; and from figures given by berm at the top of the London Clay.
Ireland ( loc. c i t .) this reduces the cal­
culated factor of safety to about 1 .0 7 . In Essex the London Clay has been over-
Stress-strain curves of the softer clays consolidated during its geological history
show little drop in strength after the un­ by the removal by erosion of some 500 ft of
drained peak (Peck 1940) but there may be a overlying sediments (Skempton 1 9 6 1 ). It is
reduction in mobilised strength due to pro­ a s t if f fissured marine clay of Eocene age
gressive failure along that part of the with horizontal bedding.
slip surface lying within the stiff upper
clay. However, a 30 per cent reduction to The first sign of instability at Slide I was
allow for this effect only brings the cal­ the outward bulging and cracking of clay
culated factor of safety down to 1 . 0 0 . just above the toe of the slope. A few hours
later a large wedge slipped out, to be

320
 NATURAL SLOPES AND EM BANKM ENT FO UN D ATIO N S
followed after 4 hours by a more massive
movement. Next day the main Blide occurred,
with a tension crack passing through the
fill.
A p ril 25 th
Slid* In a deep excavation at
after Skem pton & L a Rochelle
The undrained strength of the clay was
measured on l£" x 3" triaxial (vertical
axis) specimens taken from borehole samples
and hand-cut block samples, with a time to
(peak) failure of the order 15 minutes. No
significant difference could be found bet­
ween the strengths of the two types of
sample, and sufficient tests were made to
establish firmly the variation of undrained
strength with depth. Average valueB of the
index properties of the London Clay within
the depth involved in the slides are: w = 3 3 ,
LL = 95, PL = 30, CP = 52.
Five possible slip surfaces were analysed
for Slide I and of these the three most cri­
tical all showed the actual strength of the
London Clay mobilised during the failure to
be only 56 per cent (i 2 per cent) of the
average strength measured in the laboratory.
For Slide II the ratio was 52 per cent. In
other terms, using the laboratory strengths
the calculated factors of safety were about
1 .8 and 1 .9 respectively for the two slides.
At the time of the preliminary investiga­
tions these results seemed to indicate sur­
prisingly large discrepancies between labo­
ratory and field strengths, but the d iffe r­
ences can now be readily explained. In the
first place, tests with various times to
failure showed that pore water migration
takes place within the clay, towards the
shear zone; and in 5 days this effect, to­
gether with a small Theological component,
brings about a reduction in undrained stren­
gth of approximately 18 per cent as com­
pared with the strength measured in 15
minute tests (Skempton & LaRochelle lo c .
c it . ) . In the second place it 1 b now known,
from work previously described in the pre­
sent paper, that the undrained strength of
London Clay en masse, or in very large tri­
axial specimens'! is about 70 per cent of the
strength measured in l£ "x 3" specimens; due
to the presence of fissures and other dis­
continuities which are by no means fully
represented in the small samples. There is
every reason to suppose that the time and
Bize effects work in conjunction, and if
this is correct the ratio of the 5 day
field strength to the 15 minute laboratory
strength would be
(1 - 0 .1 8 ) x 0 .7 0 = 0 .5 7 .
The near coincidence of this figure with
the results of stability calculations is
obviously fortuitous to some extent. But
we consider that it establishes beyond
reasonable doubt that the apparent discre­
pancy implied by a calculated factor of
safety of 1 .8 is not due to shortcomings of
the jt = 0 analysis, and can be explained in a
BradweU , Essex quantitative manner by the highly misleading
(1965)
strengths obtained in conventional laborato­
ry teste. Indeed, i f some allowance were
made for progressive failure and for the
possibility of a slightly lower etrength
Fig . 2 0
due to orientation effects, the conclusion
could be reached that the field etrength
was actually a lit t le greater than might be
expected when all factors are taken into
account.
The somewhat lower strength deduced from the
delayed failure of Slide II is qualitatively
perfectly rational. It amounts to a further
reduction of 7 per cent, and there i 6 no
d iffic u lty in supposing that this could be
the combined result of small additional
pore water migration and progressive f a il ­
ure effects.
It remains only to mention that several deep
cuts at Bradwell proved to be stable for
periods of at least 4 months, before they
were backfilled. The field strengths in
these elopes were shown by calculation to
be not lees than 40 per cent of the conven­
tional laboratory values. During thiB period
there had probably been litt le overall
change in water content. Where long-term
delayed slides have taken place in the
brown London Clay, after periodB ranging
from about 15 to 40 years, the field
strength fa lls to values between 25 and 35
per cent of the conventional laboratory
undrained strength (Skempton 1948b).
So far as other st iff fissured clays are
concerned, the Bradwell results presumably
give some indication of the problems to be
encountered, but the quantitative pattern
may d iffe r considerably.
5 .2 First-time Slides; Long-term. Intact
Claye
Five case records are presented in this
category covering a wide range of clay
types: normally- and lightly over-consoli­
dated marine claye, a rather heavily over­
321
 SKEM PTO N and HUTCHINSON
consolidated lacustrine clay, a stifl _ uy
till and a residual sandy clay.
5 .2 .1 Drnmmen (Kjaernsli & Simone 1 9 62).
On 6 January 1955 a rotational slide occur­
red in the north bank of the Drammen River,
at the town of Drammen in Norway ( F i g .2 1 ).
It was located in a soft intact marine clay
of Postglacial age, covered by aoout 3
metres of sand and granular f i l l . The clay
hris occasional extremely thin seamB of silt
and fine sand. Its index properties are
typically w= 35, LL= 35, PL= 18, CF= 38,
St = 8 . Piezometer readings showed that the
pore pressures were hydrostatic. Beneath
ground surface the clay is normally consolid­
ated. Beneath the slope the clay is very
lightly over-consolidated as a result of
removal of load by river erosion.
a fte r K jac rra li & Simons , 1962
Fig. 21
Average values of the peak strength para­
meters are ?
c' = 0.1 t/m 0 ' = 32 .5
as measured in drained triaxial tests on
vertical axis specimens taken with a pieton
sampler in boreholes.
The main cause of the slide was a gradual
steepening of the slope by erosion at the
toe, but the failure was touched off by
placing a small amount of f il l at the edge
of the bank. At the time of the slide
water level in the river was about 1 metre
below normal. There were no obvious signs
of impending movement beforehand.
Stability analyses using Bishop's method*
gave a minimum calculated factor of safety
= 1.01 on a critical circle corresponding
closely to the actual slip surface, so far
as the latter could be determined from
field observations.
* In the present paper, this term refers
to the Bishop Simplified Method (Section 4 ) .
322
This result suggesta that the effects of
rate of testing, progressive failure and
anisotropy are more or less self-balancing
in the Drammen slide; and in any case they
would not be expected to exert a major in­
fluence on a long-term slide in soft intact
clay tested and analysed in terms of effec­
tive stress.
5 .2 .2 Lodalen. Oslo (Sevaldeon 1 9 5 6 ). A
railway cutting, originally made in 1925,
was widened in 1949. Five years later a
slide occurred in the early morning of 6
October 1954. The sliding mass moved as an
almost monolithic body, sinking about 5
metres in the upper part and pushing forward
about 10 metres at the toe. Subsequent
borings established the position of the
Blip surface at three points ( F i g .22) and,
together with the back scarp, showed that
the surface closely approximated to a cir­
cular arc. Pore pressure measurements by
piezometers revealed a email upward com­
ponent of ground water flow, presumably
influenced by artesian pressures in the
underlying rock.
Slxte in C utting at Lo d a le n , n ear O slo , 1954
afte r Scvaldson 1956
Fig. 22
The clay, of Postglacial age, is lightly
over-consolidated with an intact structure,
and has undrained shear strengths ranging
from 4 to 6 t/m . Average values of the
index properties are: w = 31, LL = 36,
PL = 18, CF = 40, St = 3. The peak strength
parameters were determined in consolidated
undrained triaxial tests, with pore pressure
measurements, made on vertical axis speci­
mens taken by a thin wall piston sampler
from boreholes. The scatter of results was
extraordinarily small, with average values
c' = 1 .0 t/m2 0' = 2 7 °.
The uppermost zone a few metres thick below
original ground level constituted a 'drying
crust' typical of Scandinavian clays, but

the tension crack extended through this.
Stability analyses using Bishop' 6 method
gave a minimum calculated factor of safety
= 1 .0 0 . The corresponding critical slip
surface differed slightly in position from
the actual surface, and on the latter the
calculated factor = 1 .0 7 .
These figures are so close to unity that,
as in the previous record from Drammen, the
conclusion must be that the combined effect
of various factors such as anisotropy and
rate of testing is negligib le.
Residual strength tests have not yet been
made on the Lodalen clay, but as an upper
limit we could safely assume
cr ' = 0 V s
With these parameters the factor of safety
falls to 0 .7 3 . Thus it seems clear that
progressive failure must have played a very
small part as a cause of the slide. The
delay of 5 years, from excavation to fa ilu re ,
is therefore probably associated with a
slow decrease in effective stress following
the removal of load from the slope in 1949.
5 .2 .3 Selset (Skempton & Brown 1961,
Skempton 19 6 4 ). In the north Yorkshire
Pennines the River Lune, an upland tributary
of the Tees, is eroding its valley through
a thick deposit of clay t i l l , probably of
Weichselian age. At the section shown in
F ig .23 the river, when in flood, is cutting
into the toe of a slope about 42 f t . high;
and when the site was first visited in 1955
clear evidence could be seen of a rotation­
al landslide. Comparison of present topo­
graphy with a map of 1856 showed that the
rate of lateral movement of the river into
the valley side was very slow.
Piezometers established a flow pattern
rather similar to that at Lodalen, with a
component of upward flow from the under­
lying bed rock. The t ill consisted of
Caroonttroui
S ri s«t Landslide ( after
NATURAL SLOPES AND EMBANKMENT FO UNDATIO NS
stones and boulders set in a sandy clay
matrix (w = 12, LL = 26, PL = 13, CF = 25 ),
fonaing a massive, s t if f intact clay. Shear
strength parameters of the matrix, measured
in slow drained triaxial teste with a time
to failure up to 2 days, are
c' = 1 8 0 l b /f t 2 0' =30° (peak)
cr ' = 0 0T ' = 28° (resid ua l).
The stress-strain curves were gently rounded
at the peak.
Stability analyses by Bishop's method gave
a minimum calculated factor of safety = 1.05
(typical result within a range from 0 .9 9 to
1 .1 4 controlled by two lim iting assumptions
concerning flow net patterns). In contrast,
27° the factor of safety using residual para­
meters = 0 . 6 9 .
Thus the actual strength around the slip
surface at the time of failure must have
been close to the peak strength as measured
in the laboratory.
This conclusion is not unexpected. The
strength of this type of clay would pre­
sumably be little influenced by rate of
shearing, and anisotropy may well be insig­
n ifica n t, while any substantial reduction
from peak strength by progressive failure
is most unlikely with the non-brittle,
almost flat-topped stress strain curves.
5 .2 .4 Canelelra (Vargas & Pichler 1957,
Vargas personal comm. ) . The h ills near
Santos, B r a zil, are composed of Pre-
Cambrian crystalline rocks covered by a
mantle of residual 6andy clay formed by in
situ weathering. At the top of the h ills
the mantle has a thickness of the order 20
metres; on the elopes, which are inclined
at angles up to 4 5 °, the mantle is usually
a few metres thick up to a maximum of about
10 metres.
During March 1956 the ra infall attained
954 mm., approximately four times the monthly
average. 268 mm. of rain f e ll on 19 & 20
March, and in the night of 24-25 March 264
mm. of rainfall were registered. Several
landslides occurred that night, one of them
being at Caneleira ( F i g .2 4 ) . The sandy clay
mantle, up to 7 metres thick, slid off the
h illsid e leaving a bare rock surface and
forming a tumbled mass of slide debris at
the foot of the slope. This is a good
example of the translational slab-like land­
slide in its early stages.
When sampled, adjacent to the slide, the
clay (LL = 4 5 , PL = 30, CF = 8 ) had a degree
of saturation = 70 per cent but during the
period of heavy rains preceding the slide
the clay would have been almost fully satu­
Sktmpton I Brown (981 )
rated. Tested in that condition in drained
shear box tests the peak strength parameters
were found to be
F ig . 23 c' = 3 t/m2 0 • = 40°
323
 SKEM PTON and HUTCHINSON
part of the mountain, being as much ae 130
cm. wide and at least 30 metres deep. A
year before the failure the top of the
future slide subsided 20 cm., and further
subsidence appeared some weeks before the
final collapse.

The old cracks were almost certainly the

result of shear deformations In the clay,
leading to fracture and loss of cohesion in
the more rig id , brittle upper strata. These
deformations probably included a component
of movement due to creep, and may have been
Caneleira Landslide near Santos , Brazil promoted to some degree by occasional earth­
of U r Vargas 8. P1lch«r (1957) & personal comm quake tremors.

Taking c' = 0 in the fractured gravelb and

Fig. 24- a tension crack through the tu ff, the aver­
age effective normal pressure on the slip
The simplest assumptions for a stability surface in the clay is about 80 t/m2 and
analysis are (1 ) that ground water at the the corresponding shear strength mobilised
time of the slide was flowing parallel to at failure is approximately 27 t/m2 .
the slope, having its free surface coinci­ Laboratory measurements of 0 r ' gave values
dent with the surface of the slope, and between 10° and 15° (with c' = 0 ) . I f 0r ’ *=
(il) that the pore pressures in the clay 13° the residual strength under 80 t/m2 is
simply correspond to the ground water flow. about 18 t/m^. The peak strength of the
On this basis the calculated factor of undisturbed clay was not determined, but
safety Is almost exactly 1 .0 for an average with a quite modest estimate of the para­
thickness of clay equal to 6 metres. meters, e .g . c 1 = 2 . 0 t/m2 and 0 ’ = 20° , the
average peak along the slip surface would be
It is more probable that in principle the 31 t/m2 j a value appreciably higher than the
pore pressures at failure were to some ex­ mobilised strength.
tent controlled by shear deformations, as
well as by the percolating ground water. It therefore seems that some progressive
However, tests on a similar residual clay failure occurred, reducing the strength to
in which a large rotational landslide took a value corresponding approximately to a
place in 1928 on Monte Serrate, also near residual factor R = 0 .3 .
Santos, show that the shear deformation
pore pressures may be rather small (Vargas
& Pilcher i£ c. c l t . ).

The publication of further investigations

on residual clay slopes would be very
interesting, and we are certainly not able
to draw any general conclusions relating
to this class of problem. However, for the
slide at Caneleira, and also at Monte
Serrate, it appears that the strength at
failure cannot be much less than the peak
value as measured by tests in which the
clay has a high degree of saturation.

5 .2 .5 Gradot Ridge (Suklje 4 Vidmar 19 6 1 ).

On 5 September 195(5 a very large, catastro­
phic landslide occurred In the west slope
of the Gradot Ridge, Macedonia, f illin g the Landslide at Gradot Ridge , Macedonia
valley of the Vatasha River up to a height a fte r Suhljc & Vidmar (1961)

of 70m. ( P i g .2 5 ). The seat of the compound

slip surface was located in the top of a
stiff intact lacustrine clay of Pliocene Fig. 25
age (LL = c .5 5 ) , over-consolidated by the
erosion of the river valley. Overlying the
clay 1b a thick bed of very compact silt 5 .3 First-time Slides; Long-term. S tiff
with sandy intercalations, followed by Fissured Clays
weakly cemented sandy gravels and capped
by an andeslte tuff. The tuff and probably Delayed first-time slides in stiff fissured
the gravels are of Pleistocene age. The clays are of common occurrence. A striking
strata dip at 4 ° towards the valley. and often quoted example 1s provided by the
failure of a 60 f t . deep cutting in the
For at least 50 years before the landslide WealdClay near Sevenoaks, where in 1939
took place cracks were open in the upper a non-circular rotational slide occurred

324

70 yeara after excavation (Toms 19 4 8 ).
slope and wall failure in London Clay at
Kensal Green, which took place after 29
years, has been mentioned already in the
present paper in relation to the excellent
record of movements preceding the slide
(P ig .1 0 ). These demonstrate graphically
the effect of a gradual reduction in
strength characteristic of this clay. Timea
to failure at other London Clay sites range
from 14 years at Wembley H ill (Skempton
1948b) to 81 years at Upper Holloway (De-
Lory 19 5 7 ).
Details of two case records of slides at
Northolt and Sudbury H ill have been pub­
lished (Skempton 19 64). They are re­
examined in the following notes.
5 .3 .1 Northolt and Sudbury H i l l . The cut­
ting at Northolt was first excavated in
1903 with slopes at 2 .7 5 :1 . In 1936 widen­
ing of the cutting took place and the new
slope was made at 2 .5 :1 with a small con­
crete toe wall ( F i g .2 6 ). Movements became
noticeable in January 1955; comprising
slumping at the top and bulging just above
the w all. By the end of that year remedial
measures had to be put in hand, consisting
of counterfort trench drains at 25 ft .
centres and slope reduction to 3 : 1 .
Section through slide in Northolt cutting
a fte r Skem pton
Piezometers were installed in November 1955.
Portions of the slip surface, which could
be observed while excavating the trenches,
showed a markedly non-circular shape pro­
bably reflecting some anisotropy in the
clay and also a smaller degree of softening
at deeper levels where the clay is laterally
restrained. Average values of the index
properties are: w = 30, LL = 79, PL = 28;
but water contents as high as 34 were found
in the immediate vicinity of the slip sur­
face.
NATURAL SLOPES AND EM BANKM ENT FO UNDATIO NS
The The Sudbury H ill cutting was excavated in
1900. Failures have occurred at various
places along the length of the cutting, and
at the site selected for analysis eliding
started in 1949- The movements gave little
trouble and no remedial measures were under­
taken.
The slope profile in January 1956 is shown
in F i g .27. At this time piezometers were
installed and readings of water level were
taken until March 1957. The piezometric
line corresponds to the highest levels
recorded within that period. The slip sur­
face was not observed at depth and its shape
as drawn in F i g .27 is based on analogy with
Northolt. Average values of the index
properties are w = 31, LL = 82, PL = 28.
Fig. 27
Drained tests on brown London Clay at seven
different sites from depths between 6 and
22 f t . (Skempton 1964) show some scatter;
but the following peak strength parameters
are sufficiently representative for practi­
cal purposes:
c' = 3 2 0 l b /f t 2 0 ' = 20°
(1964)
The test6 were made on the usual 6 cm. shear
box and l£" x 3" triaxial specimens, typical­
Fig. 26 ly with a time to peak failure of about 1 day.
For very long times to failu re, measured in
decades, the parameters would be somewhat re­
duced; and much larger samples might give low­
er peak strengths. Unfortunately no quanti­
tative measure of either effect is available
at present, so the figuree quoted above have
to be accepted as conventional peak strength
valuea.
Tests on eamplea containing natural slip sur­
faces in brown London Clay (Skempton & Petley
1967) show that, for effective normal press­
ures between 600 and 1200 l b /f t ^ , the
325
 SKEM PTON and HUTCHINSON
rr-ridu^i] s t r e n g t h p a r u m e t e r s can be ^xpres-
c' -d &v lh< v a l u e s :
5 .4 Slides on Pre-existing Slip Surfaces

cr ' - 50 lb/ft2 0 r ' = 13°

Slip surfaces can be caused by landsliding,
including the development of colluvial
r r , a o re a; proxiL-^ te l y , if cr * is made equal slopes, by solifluction and by tectonic
ic ;;ero, / r ' = I ; 0 . Exact values of small shearing. Examples of recent movements
e:3ior, : n ‘.ercer t r; are d iffic u lt to deter- along pre-existing slip surfaces in each of
nr.i.e ex: er iiL<-ntai 3y and, for reasons given these categories are given below. The move­
l-.'%r, we rrefer ' r. modify the value of ments may be continuing post-failure dis­
-ind v;ii: q-.o: • tne parameters: placements or they may result from re-acti­
vation ( e .g . caused by excavation at the toe
cr * = ’ ■l b /f t 2 0 r « = 13° . of a slope) but in both cases we are dealing
with a condition of limiting equilibrium
*.•>:: i J i t.v Hn-'Iy:-'; - using the method of controlled by the residual strength along
V c r g - i r .:- .! 's * i c:e, with the slip surfaces the slip surface. In this respect the
i ;.i0".'3i<: *.ric -vels shown in P ig s . 26 and present set of records d iffe r sharply from
/, n^v; re'.-i rt.i . ;een made by Dr. R .J . the first-time slides.
:r .v .i\ e r . ' v v •> .-.'iculations yield the
ora >*• • yiven in Table 8 . 5 .4 .1 Sudbury H ill (Skempton 1 9 6 4 ). After
the slide in 1949 in the London Clay cutting
at Sudbury H ill (see 5 .3 .1 ) no remedial
measures were carried out and the slumped
mass continued to move intermittently for
several years. Small amounts of clay were
Table 8 removed from time to time at the toe (pro­
bably in the winter months) to prevent it
encroaching on the railway track.
Stability ana!vsec> cf two London Clay cuttings
using ,Kie f / :rgenstern - Price method When the profile was surveyed in 1956 (Fig.
27) the overall displacement amounted to at
r actor of safety least 6 f t . The post-failure movements
(i) Residual must thereiore correspond to a factor of
Site (ii) (iii) safety = 1 .0 on residual strength.
c' n!>20 c =0 cl =20 factor
<t> = 20° 0' =20° & - 13° The highest, piezometer readings during the
period January 1956 to March 1957 are shown
Northolt 163 077 0-54 0 58 in the Figure. They are perhaps slightly
Sudb'jry Hill 2 27 1 05 0-74 0 83 lower then those when previous movements
were taking place, and the profile may have
Sudbury H'll 1 03 been very slightly steeper. However, within
po .:l - ‘o'l'.re the lim:' ts of accuracy obtainable in field
, 2 work, a^d as the precise shape of the slip
(ii conventional peak strength c in lb/ft surfaces is not known, the results of calcu­
(ii) fully softened' strength lations based on the profile and piezometric
(iii) residual rtcngth „ level rj in Pig. 27 can be accepted as a
reoccnably good approximation to the residual
strength.

Using the Morgenstern-Frice analysis the

average effective normal stress and shear
stress along the slip surface are
Ii i.o -niied to mike a more complete study
of these ar.d other case reco r d •' i: i the O n ' = 600 Ib/ft2 lt = 1 6 0 It/ft."
London Clay, but meanwhil e the rcsv> t v froE1
Korthol t and Sudbury I1ill tJrtt w.her 7 f cr ' i o rv'fp ooyji'j. to zero tne value of
failure occurred (i 1 l.no P r of tho )'jr < on-
'.'rg to ficse ctreccee is 14.4
cloy had fallen 60 to Ki if" i f-->t of tho ic-: - c r , n c.:rc-jjor slip surface
way from the conver.tior.-jl ; cvi: t<- tho rn a i.- lolfciiij'' o.*) F i v e 0 r ' - j.4.7° i f c-1 = 0 ) .
i’j'il v-.iue and (ii) tto'.’ it v.-r ^raotica.lly Ac rent.' cned crtv r^r, tests on natural slip
•* to the 'fully col ter.ed 1 strength puriacos :n. brown j.on-lor Clsy are best rep­
( c 1 - 0, 0 ' = 20°) at Uudb;;ry Jli11 ar.d rorented by 0 T > - 13° and a small cohesion
about 30 per cent higher than this strength intercept. Tho tests gave cr ' = 30 lb /ft 2 ,
at riortholt. but from the Sudbury Hill post-failure
analysis a better value, for 0 r ' = 1 3 °, ie
Tne design of slopes in stiff fissured clays cr ' = 20 lb/ft*1. These parameters give a
is a recurrent problem. The need for fur­ calculated factor of safety on the non-
ther detailed investigations of failures in circular slip surface equal to 1 .0 3 . A dif­
auch clays is an outstanding requirement. ference of 10 l b /f t ^ is inside the limits of
experimental error.

326
 NATURAL SLOPES AND EM BANKM ENT FO UN DATIO NS
5 .4 .2 Folkestone ffarren. The large land­
slides which have occurred at rather regular
intervals at Folkestone Warren, on the south
Kent coast, have been studied in detail;
notably by Toms (1953) and Wood (1955) and
more recently in a comprehensive paper by
Hutchinson (1 9 6 9 ). A cross section of the
1915 slide is shown in P i g .28. The strata,
of Cretaceous age, consist of Chalk over-
lying Gault clay which rests on sands of
the Folkestone Beds. The back scarp of
the slide complex is formed by the precipi­
tous 'High C l i f f ' beneath which the slip
masses extend as an irregular shelf or
undercliff many hundreds of feet in width
and terminate in sea c liffs about 50 f t .
in height.
Typical Section through the
after
During the past two centuries and perhaps
over a considerably longer period, there
has been no general regression of the back
scarp except for comparatively minor fa lls
of Chalk from the High C l i f f . But records
exist of several massive slides involving
a renewal of movement in the entire under-
c liff (for example in 1877, 1896 and 1915)
as well as rather more frequent slides of
smaller extent comprising a renewal of
movement in the slip masses in the vicinity
of the sea c li ff (e .g . in 1859, 1865, 1886,
1937 and 19 4 0 ). The slides are caused by
marine erosion, now partially arrested by
protective works, and they have invariably
occurred between the months of December and
March when ground water levels are highest.
An interesting feature is the occurrence of
small subsidence movements, known as 's e t s '
in the Chalk for a distance of at least 60 ft .
behind the High C l i f f . Five have been recor­
ded in the past 90 years. They indicate pro­
gressive failure in the Gault, behind the
active slip surface, and provide evidence in
support of the hypothesis suggested by
Bjerrum (1 9 6 7 ).
There is , however, no doubt that the large
scale landslides during recent years have
been renewed movements on pre-existing con­
tinuous slip surfaces; and analysis of the
slides w ill therefore yield information on
the residual strength of the Gault clay.
Analyses have been made of the slides which
occurred in 1915, 1937 and 1940. These are
in a decreasing order of size and conseauen-
1915 Landslide at Folkestone Warren
Hutchinson 1969
Fig. 20
tly provide three different effective normal
stresses and the corresponding shear streng­
ths. The results, plotted in F i g .29, have
been obtained by the Morgenstern-Price anal­
ysis with two limiting conditions for pore
pressures on the slip surface. The three
slides give values of residual strength
which can be expressed by the parameters
cr ' = 0 0
r* = 14° to 1 6 .5 °
These parameters are average values for the
entire length of slip surface within the
Gault.
The Gault consists of hard, fissured and
jointed claye which, in the course of their
geological history, have been consolidated^
under pressures of the order of 50 tons/ft .
The formation is divided into the dark
327
 SKEM PTON and HUTCHINSON
0' } 30 ) and the stress-strain curves show
a brittle behaviour. Cut-plane tests on a
sample of Lower Gault (LL = 7 8 ), having an
appreciable content of montmorillorite in
v 0n c -W i p o 't f r v . u 'c ct*«viatf its clay fraction, gave what is probably
> r.-mlf*• uvg P'f'.v** ♦'.'•P'Cte
close to a practical lower limit for the
residual strength of the whole formation:
cr ' = 0 0 T ' = 1 2 °, and it is unlikely that
a higher value could be obtained than was
F"«.«lcp* of
given by the results of reversal 6hear tests
f*«td data
c ;« o
on a sample of Upper Gault ILL = 57) with a
f ' \ i to * 5 * clay fraction composed chiefly of illit e
tooc exo and kaolinite: cr ' = 0 0 r ' = 1 9 °.
Average *'<«'•»« r.etmcS stri

These results bracket the field values of

Shear Strengths of the Gault Clay m the Folkestone W arren Landslides 0 1
after H u tth iW A (* 6 9 !

5 .4 .3
record w ill be described very briefly as it
has not yet been published in f u l l . The
Fig. 29 section shown in P i g .30 is derived from
numerous borings and exploratory pits carr­
ied out- during 1962-63 under the direction
of Mr. K.R . Early of Soil Mechanics Ltd. It
grey clays of the Lower Gault, having seems that a slope in Carboniferous mudstone
liquid limits between 70 and 100, and the wae over-steepened by the erosion of a drain­
light grey calcareous clays of the Upper age channel during the retreat of the Weich-
Gault which show considerable lithological BOlian ice sheet in this part of Stafford­
variations represented by liquid limits shire. Weathering, multiple landsliding and
ranging from 50 to 120. Water contents and earthflow have been active ever since, until
plastic limits are more uniform throughout stabilisation workr. were carried out a few
the formation, with average values of about years ago j.n connection with the M6 motor-
22 and 25 respectively. way. The resulting colluvium mantles the
bedrock and e.reedo out 200 f t . over the
Jeak strengths, measured in 6 cm. 6hea.r cox sar.cs f il l in g the charnel. In the early
tests with a time to failure of the order „ slaves of development mass movements were
of 16 hours, are very high ( c 1 > 1000 11: / ft* probably accentuated by solifluctio n.

Fig. 30

328
 NATURAL SLOPES AND EM BANKM ENT FO UNDATIO NS
Slip surfaces were discovered at each of
the points marked by a short heavy line in
y ig .3 0 . Most of the colluvium consists of
a noderitely s t if f clay matrix with frag­
ments of mudstone and sandstone, but within
a distance of several centimetres on either
side of a shear zone only clay (including
some harder clay pellets) is encountered.
Examination of thin sections by Mr. Early
showed little preferred particle orienta­
tion in this clay, but he observed that the
slip surface comprises a band 20 to 30
microns wide in which the clay particles
are strongly orientated approximately in
the direction of displacement, and this
band lies within a shear zone up to about
2 cm. wide containing many minor shears.
Slow drained tests in the standard shear
box and triaxial apparatus gave the follow­
ing peak strength parameters for the un­
sheared clay
c* = 320 l b /f t 2 0' = 21°
Tests on the slip surfaces (again in shear
box and triaxial) gave consistent results,
corresponding to the parameters
cr > = 0 0T ' = 13°
In both sets of tests no significant d i f f ­
erence could be seen between the strengths
in the shear boxes and the tria x ial.
At the time it was d iffic u lt to explain the
much lower 0 ' on the slip surfaces, as com­
pared with the peak value. 3y the end of
1963, however, reversal shear box tests on
previously unsheared clay had been carried
out and the final ( i . e . residual) strengths
obtained after five or more reversals were
found to agree quite well with the slip
surface values (Skempton 1 9 64). This was
probably the first occasion on which labora­
tory residual strength could be correlated
with The strength on natural 6lip surfaces;
and the great difference between peak and
residual 0 ’ could clearly be attributed,
in part, to the effect of particle re­
orientation at large displacements.
Typical stress-strain curves and a detailed
drawing by Dr. J .S . Tchalenko of the fabric
of a shear zone have been published by
Skempton and Petley (1 9 6 7 ). Average values
of the index properties of the clay ares
w = 29, LL = 57, PL = 26, CP = 69.
The colluvial slope ( P i g .30) has an average
inclination of 11° , but it consists of two
rathtr distinct portions. The upper part,
inclined at 9°, contains multiple slides
running for much of their length sub­
parallel to the slope. The lower, steeper
part has within it at least two rotational
slides, and these seem to cut across the
translational slides as i f they were remov­
ing material brought down by a preceding
329
phase of movement from the upper part.
Preliminary analyses show that for the
rotational slides IV and V the values of 0 r ’
corresponding to a factor of safety = 1.0
are between 15° and 1 5 .5 ° (assuming cr ' = 0 ).
To analyse the upper slip surfaces such as
I and I I I , it has been necessary to extend
them downhill into the region affected by
slides IV and V. The calculations, which
are therefore no more than approximations,
give values of 0 r ’ between 1 3 .5 ° and 1 4 .0 ° .
These results are 5 to 20 per cent higher
than the measured residual strengths. No
particular significance iB attached to this
relatively small order of discrepancy.
5 .4 .4 Sevenoaks Weald (Skempton & Petley
1 9 6 7 ). The escarpment Bouth of Sevenoaks,
in Kent, is composed of Hythe Beds over-
lying Atherfield and Weald Clays ( P i g .31).
Investigations near the village of Sevenoaks
Weald revealed a widespread solifluction
sheet extending more than half a mile fromQ
the escarpment on ground sloping at only 3
or 4 ° . It is characterised by an abundance
of angular chert fragments and pieces of
sandstone, brought down from the Hythe Beds,
set in a very variable matrix of Bilt, sand
and clay. Exploration pitB through the
sheet showed the presence of slip surfaces
in the underlying weathered Weald Clay run­
ning parallel to the slope.
Under present climatic conditions the ground
is completely stable, and the sheet has no
topographic expression. Indeed there can
be little doubt that, on such flat slopes,
there has been no movement throughout Post­
glacial times. The sheet was formed during
the period of the main Weichselian glaciation
when southern England was subjected to
intense periglacial conditions.*
The mechanics of solifluction movements on
gentle slopes is not understood, but recent
investigations (Weeks 1969) have proved the
existence of basal shears, similar to those
at Sevenoaks Weald, beneath solifluction
sheets on clay slopes at several other sites
(see P i g .7 for an example in London Clay).
Overlying the main sheet immediately below
the steep slopes of the escarpment are
numerous lobes, up to about 1 ,5 0 0 f t . in
length, also consisting of chert and sand­
stone fragments in a silty clay matrix. A
detailed section of an exploration pit
through one of these lobes is shown in Pig.
31. Lying on the lower sheet at this secticn
is a foBsil so il, the radiocarbon age of
which (1 2 ,0 0 0 years B .P .) proves that the
lobe must have been formed during Zone III
of the Late-glacial period, the last phase
of periglacial conditions ending about
10 ,000 years ago.
* Further examples of periglacial action
on elopes are given by Zaruba & Mencl (1954,
1 9 6 3 ).
 SKEM PTON and HUTCHINSON

Typical Section of a Soliflucted Slope near Sevenoaks Weald , Kent

a fte r Skempton & Ftetley (1967) and Weeks (1969)

It seems clear that the lobe started its
downhill movement principally by 6liding
on the Atherfield and Weald Clays, and then
continued on a layer of 'gouge' clay. This
layer, probably derived from the Atherfield
and Weald outcrops and from slope wash,
contains many small fragments of Hythe Beds
material and clay pellets. It is intensely
sheared.
Triaxial tests on slip surface specimens
gave the following residual strength para­
meters (and average values of index proper­
ties) :
Atherfield (w= 31, LL= 72, PL= 29, CF = 55)
Fig. 31
a stability analysis of the entire lobe
shows that an average value of 0 ’ = 12.5
corresponds to a factor of safety = 1.0
(with c' = 0 ) . In view of the above men­
tioned test results the lobe, as a whole,
should therefore be stable; and this is in
accordance with field observations. There
are, however, signs of local instability at
. the toe, where winter water levels lie very
close to the surface, and the values of 0 '
required for F = 1 .0 in small slides in this
region are about 14 ° to 1 5 °. These calcula­
tions are approximate, but they are reason­
ably concordant with the fact that the toe
of the lobe has not yet reached a position
of equilibrium.

r 12° - 15° Rather more valuable information, in the

Weald (w= 25, LL= 65, PL= 26, CF= 60)
Cr * = 0 0r ' = 1 5 .5 ° - 1 6 .5 °
Gouge (w= 34, LL= 71, PL= 31, CF= 58)
cr ' = 0 fl T ' = 16°
Piezometric levels in the lobe and the under­ dently led to re-activation of the old slip
lying solifluction sheet rise within a few
feet of ground surface. Using these levels
present context, was provided accidentally
by the excavation of a trench across a lobe
adjacent and similar to the one in F i g .31.
The trench was situated at about the posi­
tion of the exploration pit shown in this
Figure, and shortly after it reached the
top of the Weald Clay multiple retrogressive
sliding began which soon extended three hund­
red of feet up the slope. The trench evi­
surfaces. Analyses of these movements give
values of 0 r ' between 15° and 16° (again

330
 NATURAL SLOPES AND EM BANKM ENT FOUNDATIONS
S.W
slide occurred during 1964 monsoon
30 ft movement
sand-rock S,
R Beas
clay_shale__ C3
sand-rock S
shear zone & slip surface
R ock-slide in Upper Siwalik S tra ta
River Beas Valley , India
after Henkel & Yudhbir (1966)
Fig. 32
with ( c 1 = 0 ) for the strength in the top
of the Weald Clay*; a result which supports
the validity of the laboratory measurements
of residual strength.
5 .4 .5 River Beas Valley (Henkel & Yudhbir
1966). During the monsoon period of 1964
a slide occurred in Upper Siwalik strata
forcing the valley side of the River Beas
in northern India. The strata, of Lower
‘ leistocene age, consist of alternating
soft sandstones ('sand rock') and hard claye
or clay shales. At the site of the slide
they dip towards the river at an angle of 9
( P i g .5 2 ). The sliding blocK had a width
of 300 f t . It moved up to 30 f t . during
the slide. Before the failure tension
cracks could be seen on the surface of the
sandstone, and the separation between the
stable rock and the sliding mass took place
along ‘one of these tension cracks. Two
streams discharging down the slope during
t.ne neavy rains which preceded the elide
fed water into the cracks.
■‘orings established that sliding had taken
place on a plane at a depth of 15 f t . below
tne base of the sandstone in a zone of the
clay having the following index properties:
LL = 41, PL = 25, CP = 32. River level at
the time of the slide was known.
A block analysis, details of which are given
by Henkel & Yudhbir ( lo c . c i t . ) , leads to
* with the low d /L ratios in these slides,
the Conventional (P = W cosol) method of
analysis can be used with very little error
(see Table 7 ) .
the result that the value of 0 ’ along the
slip surface was between 18° and 20° (with
N E. c' = 0 ) at failu re.
Reversal 3hear tests on a sample of the clay
gave the parameters cr ' = 0, 0 - ' = 1 5 °. But
numerous tests on Upper Siwalik clay from
the Mangla Dam site snow that, for clays
having index properties of the same order as
those at the River Beas site , the values of
0 r ' can vary from 15° to 20° (Binnie, Clark
&. Skempton 1 9 6 7 ). Moreover the peak stren- .
gths of these clays are. high ( c 1 IOoO l b / f t ,
0<> 22°).
Thus the strength must have been at or com­
paratively close to the residual; a conclu­
sion which is not difficult to accept as the
Siwalik clays contain many tectonic shear
zones caused by bedding-plane slip during
the folding of the strata .i
N .B . Residual strength parameters for claye
at all the foregoing sites, except Sudbury
H i l l , are given in the approximate form with
cr ' = 0 and an associated value of 0 r ' •
More exact analyses would, in general, re­
quire the Inclusion of a small cohesion
intercept and a slightly lower 0 r ’ •
6. SLOPE DEVELOPMENT
We summarise here the results of field
investigations on slope development in London
Clay c liffs and inland slopes, and in a
boulder clay valley.
6 .1 Valley Slopes in Boulder Clay
Details have been given (section 5 .2 .3 ) of a
slide-caused by river erosion at the foot of
a 29° boulder clay slope. This wa6 a long­
term failu re , in the eense that the pore
pressures corresponded to steady ground
water flow; but i f left free from river
erosion the slope, in terms of a much longer
time scale, would be reduced to a consider­
ably smaller inclination as a result of
weathering and shallow sliding.
The inclination at which a slope in nature
finally becomes stable against any form of
landsliding is known a6 its angle of ultimate
stability. This angle depends upon the
properties of the clay and the climate and
ground water conditions; and, in general, it
i For drawings of shear zones at Mangla
see Skempton (1966) and Skempton & Petley
(196 7).
331
 SKEM PTON and HUTCHINSON
can be determined with accuracy only from Where the river is cutting down through
l'ield observations. Nevertheless it should limestone the overlying boulder clay slopes
be susceptible to rational interpretation by have been free from river erosion for much
reference to the principles of soil mechan­ longer. Three stable slopes in this type
ics. of situation were found to have inclina­
tions of 2 4 °, 23 and 2 1 °. In the latter
6 .1 .1 Peterlee (Skempton 1953a). In 1948, case (P ig.33b) the toe of the clay slope
when planning the new town of Peterlee, in has been steepened, probably by compara-
County Durham, it became necessary to
define the angle of ultimate stability of
the slopes of a deep valley and its tribu­
tary, the sides of which were still in many
places subject to active landsliding.

The valleys were being eroded in boulder

clays and, for short lengths, into the
underlying Magnesian Limestone where this
occurs at relatively high levels. The area
was covered by ice sheets of the last
(Weichselian) Glaciation and the valleys,
in their present form, are undoubtedly
Postglacial. Solifluction, then, has
played no part in modelling the slopes.
The glacial deposits include layers or
lenses of sandy gravel and s ilt , and the
clays are rather variable in their content
of stones. Index properties of the clay
matrix range from about LL = 25 and PL = 15
to LL = 40 and PL = 20, with 10 to 30 per
cent clay fraction, and the water contents
are usually close to the plastic lim it.

The valleys have maximum depths of at least

150 ft . and the tributary, which has a
length of 1 .5 miles, ascends to its source
on the rolling boulder clay plain in which
the valleys are incised. Downcutting in
the tributary valley is active and as a
consequence it is V-shaped, with many
slides; some very recent, others tempo­
rarily quiescent. The main valley (exam­
ined over a length of 3 .5 miles) has pro­ Stable Slopes in Boulder Clay , near Peterlee , Co Durham
portionately fewer slides and in places a a fte r Skempton 1953
narrow flood plain has been formed.

Slope instability commonly takes the form Fig. 33

of translational slides, with D /L ratios
between 3 and 12 per cent. These occur on
slopes which, with a few exceptions, are
inclined at angles between 30° and 35° ,
Irrespective of valley depth. In posi­
tions where the valley depth exceeds
130 ft . some examples of deep rotational
Blides are also found.
In contrast to the general picture of
active or recent landsliding, slopes which
appear to have reached a condition of
ultimate stability are found where the river
has not been eroding the toe for a consider­
able period of time. At one location, for
example, it ie known from the age of trees
on the flood plain that the river abandoned
the toe of the slope at least 135 years
before the investigation; and probably a
good deal earlier than this. The slope
(Pig.33a) is inclined at 2 6 °. It shows
signs of rather active soil creep and the
crest is slightly rounded. Two other
slopes in similar situations are inclined
at 230 and 2 4 °.
tively recent rock f a l l s , but this has not
yet affected the main part of the stable
slo$e.
The back scarps of the massive rotational
slides are obviously not being eroded by the
river and are therefore subject to free de­
gradation, modified perhaps by occasional
over-steepening by renewed movements of the
slumped mass. Two of these slides must have
occurred at least two centuries ago, as their
scarps have degraded to apparently stable
angles and trees about 150 yearB old were
growing on the slopes until they were cut
down a few years before the investigation
in 1948. These stable elopes are inclined
at 26° and 2 7 °. Their heights are around
80 f t . but even bo they are well above the
valley bottom and thus may be better drained
than the slopes behind a flood plain.
The development of valley slopes in these
boulder clays can thus be envisaged in the
following sequence: (i) Downcutting by the
river accompanied by landslides. The val­
ley grows deeper but not steeper, and is

332
 NATURAL SLOPES AND EM BANKM ENT FO UNDATIO NS
V-shaped. The alopea are inclined typi­
cally between 30 ° and 3 5 ° . ( i i ) At a cer­
tain depth^around 130 f t . , deep rotational
sliding tends to take over from predominantly
translational sliding. These deep slides
increase ti:e natural sinuosity of the
river, but the valley is still roughly V-
shaped. ( i 1i ) When down-cutting slackens
or ceases, me.anders wicLen the vallev. floor
Dy undercutting cne siae slopes, and er
flood plain is formed. Active sliding
continues at the outer bends of the river,
but as the meanders move downstream at a
slow rate the slop-?! e] e '.jehrLnd the
i-piain will be free from toe erosion
for long periods of time before they are
once more exposed to undercutting. Thia
condition of free degradation is associated
with slope flattening, presumably caused
by weathering and very shallow slid es, and
eventually a stable angle of about 22° to
26° is attained. The time required for
Jhe completion of this phase of slope f l a t ­
tening is not known, but may be more than
two hundred years. (iv ) If left undistur­
bed the valley aides w ill then be subject
only to soil creep, sheet erosion and other
surface processes which bring about the
rounding and flattening of elopes at very
slow rates indeed (Kirkby 19 67).
Prediction of the angle of ultimate stabi­
lity is a d iffic u lt matter, as it depends
on a rather exact knowledge of piezometric
conditions and soil properties at shallow
depths. This is why the angle is best
determined from field observations. On
the other hand an approximate quantitative
explanation of the stable angle can be
derived. Thus using the analysis expressed
by equation (26) we may assume, for example,
that sliding takes place at a depth of 5 f t .
and that during heavy rainfall the (perched)
water table is 1 f t . below the surface.
Then, if 0 ’ = 30° and c '= 20 l b / s q .f t . ,
wnich Beem reasonable parameters, the slope
angle for limiting equilibrium is 22° .
6 .2 Slopes in London Clay
Studies of natural slopes in London Clay
may conveniently be considered under two
headings; coastal c liffs and inland slopes.
6 .2 .1 Coastal C liffs (Hutchinson 1967a)
Under conditions of fairly strong marine .
erosion the c liffs are sub-Ject to rota­
tional or compound sliding on deep or
moderately deep slip surfaces. Where the
rate of erosion is less severe the typical
pattern iB dominated by shallow slides and
mudflows. The slopes of all these eroding
c liffs are characteristically irregular,
with average inclinations between about
15° and 3 0 °.
At various places along the coast, sea
defences have been constructed which pre­
vent further erosion at the foot of the
c liffs . I f no further stabilization works
are carried out, such as drainage or re-
grauing, the slopes then enter the phase
333
of free degradation. Eight slopes in this
category have been surveyed. Their inclina­
tions range from 1 3 ° to 20° and they show
clear evidence of in stab ility , in the form
of shallow rotational slides involving
either the whole or part of the slope.
These defended c liffs have been free from
marine erosion for periods of about 30 to
150 years.
Where marshes have formed, particularly in
estuaries, the sea has retreated from the
old c liffs which, generally, have been left
to flatten their slopes undisturbed by sta­
bilisation measures. Surveys of ten of
these freely degrading abandoned c liffs
show inclinations of 8 . 5 ° to 1 3 °. Slopes
steeper than 9 . 5 ° are still unstable, and
are characterised by successive shallow
rotational slip s; while the flatter elopes
exhibit well marked undulations which almost
certainly represent the subdued remains of
quiescent successive Blips. These slopes,
at 8 . 5 ° to 9 . 5 ° . may be regarded as being
C ro ss Sactwn of Abandoned CUff b*low M adl.tf> C osH s . E im .
after HuKhnton 1987
Fig. 34-
in a transitional state, approximating the
condition of final equilibrium.
The abandoned c l i f f beneath Hadlelgh Castle,
in Essex ( F i g .34) provides an excellent
example illustrating the degradation zone,
largely occupied by successive slips (aver­
age inclination = 1 1 . 5 ° ) , and the accumu­
lation zone, where materials brought down
from the upper parts of the slope are being
deposited as colluvium, which 1b slowly
advancing over the marsh. The castle was
originally built about 1232, and possibly
there existed at that time an arm of the
estuary navigable to the c l i f f foot. There
is , however, a suggestion from historical
records that a strip of marsh had been
formed by the 14th century. Thus until
more information is available we shall
assume that the c l i f f was abandoned about
600 years ago.
Some idea of the rate of recession of tbe
creet of the slope can be gained from the
 SKEM PTON and HUTCHINSON
castle ruins; aa indicated in P i g .34 thia Two clearly differentiated types of instability
amounts to about 70 ft . in roughly 180 can be noted; successive slips and trans­
years. lational slab slides. Shallow, markedly
non-circular slides also occur which may be
For the other sites historical information a variant forn of the slab-like movements.
has not been collected. In general, how­ In addition the undulations, previously men­
ever, the marshes in the Thames estuary tioned, are common.
reg:on were extensive and had been reclaimed
for agricultural use not later than the 17th Translational slab slides are found at in­
and lyth centuries. Thus it may be supposed clinations ranging from fc)°to 1 0 °. Their shape
that most or probably all the abandoned suggests that failure is taking place on pre­
slopes nave been free from marine erosion existing solifluction s'-er-J f- running parallel
for a minimum period of about 200 years. to the surface; e .g . as at b oughton K ill
The maximum period is more diffic u lt to ( F i g .7 ) ; although at this particular section
assess, but it cannot date back earlier tht slopes are too gentle for present day in­
than the time when the Postglacial marine stability.
transgression first approached present sea
level, very approximately 2000 years ago. Successive slips have been observed on slopes
inclined at angles between 9 -5° and 12° , with
The observed slopes of eroding, defended and
one exception at 8 .5 • These slopes are so
abandoned c liffs are plotted in P i g .35.
similar to the abandoned c liffs in their form
They demonstrate a general tendency for the
of instability and range of inclination that •
inclination to decrease with increasing
we consider them to be closely equivalent,
orders of magnitude of time; and it is worth
and infer that postglacial erosion has removed
repeating that the slopes inclined at 8 . 5°
the solifluction mantle leaving a Blope essen­
to 9 .5 , characterised by undulations, must tially in the London Clay.
be very close to ultimate stability against
any form of lan d slid in g .*
Undulations occur at inclinations from 8 .5 °
to 1 0 . 5°i the lower limit on these inland
slopes being identical with that on the aban­
doned c l i f f s .
It seems, then, that while the minimum unstable
angle is 8 ° , this is almost certainly asso­
ciated with renewed movements on solifluction
slip surfaces; and the angle of ultimete
stability of London Clay its e lf is around 9 ° .

We have also observed that the maximum stable

slope in London Clay is about 1 0 °, see F ig .35.
An overlap of 1 ° or so can easily be accounted
for by modest differences in the position of
ground water level as between one site and
another.

There is no great difficulty in deriving a

quantitative explanation of these field ob­
30 lo 150
ye ars old
several
hundred
probably up to
several thousand servations provided it is assumed thet the
y *o rs old y e a rs old strength of the clay has fallen to its resi­
dual value. This indeed w ill be the case on
N atural slo p e s in London C lay a solifluction slip surface, and with c ' =
a lt « r Hutchinson (1967) w ith a d d itio n a l d a ta fro m Skem pton & C k lo r y (1957)
20 l b /s q .f t , 0 j . ' = 13° movement can take
place at an inclination of 8 ° if ground water
level is near the surface of the B l o p e ( i . e .
Fig . 3 5 in equation (26) m is approximately 1 . 0 ).
The slightly steeper inclination of 9 ° for
It is also of interest to note that, at un-soliflucted London Clay presumably reflects
least in some cases, the ultimate angle the presence of a series of curved but inter­
appears to oe anticipated approximately by linking slip surfaces rather than a continu­
the slope of the accumulation zone, as ous planar shear.
snown at Hadleigh Castle ( P i g .34) and by
observations in Carboniferous mudstones in
Yorkshire (Hutchinson 1967b). It would be of great interest to see whether
the angles of ultimate stability in other
6 .? .2 Inland Slopes Observations by clays can be correlated with the residuel
Skeriiijton and ^eLory (1 9 5 7 ), greatly extended strength, as seems clearly to be the case
by Hutchinson H 9 b 7 a ) , have shown that many with London Clay.
inland slopes in London Clay or soliflucted
London Jlay are unstable even though they * Even slight disturbance of slopes at
are not currently subject to stream erosion. their ultimate angle can, of course, lead
to a renewal of sliding.

334
 NATURAL SLOPES AND EM BANKM ENT FO UNDATIO NS
RESUME
On suggfere un systems de classification des
glissernents en pentes argileuses ou 1 ' on
distingue cinq principaux types et six formes
complexes de mouvement. Les argiles sont
dicrites suivant leur caracteristiques
giotechniques et leur mode de formation. On
passe en revue les propriit^s de resistance
au cisaillement des argiles, mettant 1 '
accent sur les disaccords possibles entre
les resistances sur le terrain et celles
d£terrain£es lors d'essais de laboratoire
conventionnels. On resume quelques methodes
d'analyse de stability prisentement utilisies.
Ensuite on pre'sente en quelque detail 1'
analyse de quatorze cas et aussi des donnees
se rapportant a la formation des pentes en
couches argileuses. On conclut que de grand
progres ont faits durant les deux
dem ieres dicennies dans l'e'tude scientifique
des glissernents de terrain et de& phinomenes
associis dans les pentes argileuses, mais que
beacoup d'incertitude demeure et que certains
types de mouvement massif n'ont pas encore
it£ analysis quantitativement.
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