ANALYSIS OF SLOPE STABILITY BY LIMIT

EQUILIBRIUM APPROACH (SLOPEW SOFTWEAR)

NAME: P.H.S MADUSANKA

INDEX NO: 150385E

MODULE: GEOTHECHNICAL ENG.

DATA SELECTION

INDEX NO = 85

N= 85- 15*(P), P = 5

So N = 10, N = 5*n + m

So n = 1, m = 5

Example 1 – construction of a road embankment on a site underlain with soft

clays

Parameters for example

Material 1- Dense sand – γ = 20 𝑘𝑁/𝑚2 , ∅𝑢 = 320

Material 2- Peaty clay - 𝐶𝑢 = 12 𝑘𝑁/𝑚2 ,∅𝑢 = 0 ,γ = 16 𝑘𝑁/𝑚2

Material 3- Sandy fill - γ = 20 𝑘𝑁/𝑚2 , ∅𝑢 = 320

Required fill height = 5.4 m, H = 10.5

50
Stage 01 - safe fill height = 3 m FOS = 1.206
48
46
44
42
40
38
25

36 21

13
34
1.206
32
24 20
30 12

28 14 26
height

22
6 7
26
24 5 11
15
22 27
23 3
3 4 8

20
16 17
18
16 2
14
12
2 19 9
10
18

8
6
1
4
2
1 10
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50

length
Stage 02- safe fill height = 2.2m FOS = 1.201

Enhanced properties of material types 3 and 4 below

 Material type 3

Total normal stress applied on clay deposit after stage one ∆𝜎 = 3*20 𝑘𝑁/𝑚2 (=60 𝑘𝑁/𝑚2 )

Enhanced cohesion ∆𝐶 = 0.2𝑈(∆𝜎) for U= 0.9, ∆𝐶 = 10.8 𝑘𝑁/𝑚2 hence new 𝐶𝑢 = 22.8 𝑘𝑁/𝑚2

 Material type 4

Enhanced cohesion taken due to distributed stress form soil layer of height 3 m is half of ∆𝐶 above

Hence the new 𝐶𝑢 = 17.4 𝑘𝑁/𝑚2

50
48
46
44
42
40 16

38
36 1.201
34
15
32
30
17
28
height

21 6 7
26 22

5
24 5 11
20

22 18
2
3 4 8

20
12 13

18
16 4 3
14
12
2 19 9
10
14

8
6
1
4
2
1 10
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50

length
Stage 03 – fill height = 0.2 m
Example 2 – Cut slope in a site with a thin weak layer in the sub soil
C’ (kN/m2) Φ’ ( deg ) Unit weight ( kN/m3)

Soil 1 ( region 1 & 2 ) 28.5 20.0 18.84

Soil 2 ( region 3 ) 0.0 10.0 18.84

40

35

30
27

29
1.509

25
16

15
5 14 17 6
28
20 26
25
24
23
30 22 7
Y

21 8
20
15

19

18 1
10 11 12
33
4 10 13
3

31

0 3
2

32
1 9
-5
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60

FOS 1.509
 40

35

30
27

29

25
0.910 16

15
5 14 17 6
20 28
26
25
24
23
30 22 7
Y

21 8
20
15

19

18 1
10 11 12
33
4 10 13
3

31

0 3
2

32
1 9
-5
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60

By Auto locate center method, critical FOS - 0.910

The use of appropriate method of analysis based on the sub surface Geology
Analysis of Geological slopes by limit equilibrium method can be numerically done with two
approaches.

 Considering the equilibrium of the failure mass as a whole

 Method of slices

The reliability of the results that can be obtained by either of methods depend on the condition on the
sub surface.

 The first method can be useful for analyzing slopes that has been made of same soil type (or
uniform stratum, no discontinuities)
 The second method gives more reliable results for soil with a varying strata throughout the
depth.

The reason for avoiding the first method for analyzing soil with non-uniform conditions (varying
strata) is that, the failure happens exactly along the interface of low shear strength and the failure plane
is not a circular one. So it is a necessary task to investigate the variation of soil types below the earth
surface in the study area before designing slopes.