STABILITY OF EARTHEN SLOPES

SLOPE
An exposed ground surface that stands at an angle with the horizontal is
called an unrestrained slope.

The slope can be natural or man-made.

A) Natural slopes
Slopes exist in hilly areas
B) Manmade slope: Construction activity like cutting, filling etc.
The sides of cuttings; The slopes of embankments
Slope of canals; The slopes of earth dams
The slopes whether natural or artificial may be:

A) Infinite slopes :The term infinite slope is used to designate a constant slope of infinite extent.

The long slope of the face of a mountain

B) Finite slopes : these slopes are limited in extent.

- The slopes of embankments and earth dams are examples of finite slopes.
WHY NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE SLOPE FAILURES?
 CAUSES OF FAILURE OF SLOPES:
• Gravitational force

• Force due to seepage water

• Erosion of the surface of slopes due to flowing

• Water

• The sudden lowering of water adjacent to a slope

• Forces due to earthquakes

• Volcanic Eruption

• Human activity
 CAUSES OF SLOPE FAILURE
• Erosion: the wind and flowing water causes erosion of top surface of slope and makes the slope steep and
thereby increase the tangential component of driving force.

• Steady seepage: seepage forces in the sloping direction add to gravity forces and make the slope susceptible
to instability. The pore water pressure decrease the shear strength. This condition is critical for the downstream
slope.

• Sudden drawdown: in this case there is reversal in the direction flow and results in instability of side slope.
Due to sudden drawdown the shear stresses are more due to saturated unit weight while the shearing resistance
decreases due to pore water pressure that does not dissipate quickly.

• Rainfall: long periods of rainfall saturate, soften, and erode soils. Water enters into existing cracks and may
weaken underlying soil layers, leading to failure, for example, mud slides.
Earthquakes: They induce dynamic shear forces. In addition there is sudden buildup of pore water

Pressure that reduces available shear strength.

External loading: Additional loads placed on top of the slope increases the gravitational forces that may cause
the slope to fail.

Construction activities at the toe of the slope: excavation at the bottom of the sloping surface will make the
slopes steep and there by increase the gravitational forces which may result in slope failure.
 SLOPE STABILITY
IN GENERAL WE HAVE:
• Driving force – weight of slope
• Resisting force – strength of soil along slip surface buttress at toe

In slope stability analysis we determine the Factor of Safety

as a ratio of resisting forces to driving forces

FOS = Resisting Force / Driving Force

Theoretically, any slope with a Factor of Safety less than

one will fail and any slope with a factor of safety greater than
one will not.
 Factor of Safety
1. Factor of safety with respect to shearing strength

2. Factor of safety with respect to cohesion. This is termed the factor of safety with respect to height.
Cruden and varnes (1996) classified the slope failures into the following five
major categories. They are
1. Fall. This is the detachment of soil and/or rock fragments that fall down a slope.
2. TOPPLE.
 This is a forward rotation of soil and/or rock mass about an axis below the center of gravity of
mass being displaced.

 It involves the overturning of interlocked columns. Detachment

can be of single or multiple columns.

 Toppling is a mode of failure that mainly happens where joints

and discontinuities are mostly parallel to the slope profile.

 Such situation is quite rare on slopes, but in case of the Middle

Basalt ‘colonnades’ they create situations prone to failure,
3. SLIDE.

This is the downward movement of a soil mass occurring on a surface of rupture.

4. SPREAD.

This is a form of slide by translation. It occurs by “sudden movement of water-bearing seams of

sands or silts overlain by clays or loaded by fills.
5. Flow.

This is a downward movement of soil mass similar to a viscous fluid.