TXT-tool 3.001-1.

4
Using Excel Tools for Slope Stability
Analysis

Beena Ajmera and Binod Tiwari

Abstract
Each year landslides around the world are responsible for the loss of
hundreds of lives, damage to infrastructure, billions of dollars in economic
loss and have an impact on the environment. An understanding of the
stability of slopes is crucial to reduce the impact of landslides and there are
several available methods and computer programs to do so. However, the
development of simple spreadsheets to evaluate the stability of slopes can
be beneficial in reducing the cost of purchasing commercially available
programs and the learning component associated with these programs.
This teaching tools outlines the procedures to develop Excel Spreadsheets
for four commonly used slope stability analysis methods. Specifically,
step-by-step procedures to determine the factor of safety using the
Ordinary Method of Slices, Bishop’s Simplified Method, Simplified Janbu
Method and the Lowe and Karafiath Method are provided.

Keywords



Slope stability Excel tools Ordinary method of slices


Bishop’s simplified method Janbu simplified method Lowe’s method

B. Ajmera
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
California State University Fullerton, 800 N. State
College Blvd., E-318, Fullerton, CA 92831, USA
e-mail: bajmera@fullerton.edu
B. Tiwari (&)
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
California State University Fullerton, 800 N. State
College Blvd., E-419, Fullerton, CA 92831, USA
e-mail: btiwari@fullerton.edu
Contents
1 Introduction........................................................ 414
2 Available Methods and Software for
Conducting Slope Stability Analysis................ 414
3 Spreadsheet for Ordinary Method
of Slices ............................................................... 414
4 Spreadsheet for Bishop’s Simplified
Method ................................................................ 417
5 Spreadsheet for Lowe and Karafiath
and Simplified Janbu Methods ........................ 418

© Springer International Publishing AG 2018 413

K. Sassa et al. (eds.), Landslide Dynamics: ISDR-ICL Landslide
Interactive Teaching Tools, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57777-7_23
414
6 Conclusions......................................................... 420
References .................................................................. 420
1 Introduction
Landslides are widespread hazards occurring
worldwide as a result of a variety of natural and
manmade causes. Each year they cause billions
of dollars of property damage, the loss of life and
infrastructures. Thus, it is crucial to understand
the stability of the slope and design preventive
measures accordingly. The stability of the slope
is usually expressed as the ratio of resisting for-
ces to driving forces in terms of a quantity known
as the factor of safety (FS). There are many
available methods to determine the factor of
safety of a slope. These methods vary in the
complexity of the formulations from very simple
to computational intensive numerical calcula-
tions. While some of the available techniques can
be easily programmed into spreadsheets, several
software programs are commercially available to
conduct slope stability analysis. This teaching
tool will first briefly summarize the commonly
methods for determining the factor of safety of
slope and a list of commercially available soft-
ware programs to preform analysis using these
methods will be provided. However, the focus
will be on the development and use of Excel
spreadsheets for four methods.
2 Available Methods and Software
for Conducting Slope Stability
Analysis
The literature contains a number of limit equi-
librium methods for determining the stability of
slopes. As the focus of this teaching tool is in the
development of simple spreadsheets for con-
ducting slope stability analysis, the details of
each of these methods are not provided within
this document. However, Table 1 briefly sum-
marizes these methods, the assumptions made,
the equilibrium conditions satisfied, the
B. Ajmera and B. Tiwari
unknowns in each method and some of the sit-
uations where the method is commonly used.
A number of software programs have been
developed that incorporate the methods described
in Table 1 to evaluate the stability of slopes.
Some such programs are RocScience Slide 6.0
and GeoStudio Slope/W. The remainder of this
tool will focus on the development of simple
spreadsheets using Microsoft Excel to conduct
slope stability analysis using the Ordinary
Method of Slices, Bishop’s Simplified Method,
Simplified Janbu and Lowe and Karafaith
procedures.
3 Spreadsheet for Ordinary Method
of Slices
Figure 1 shows a screenshot of an Excel
Spreadsheet developed to use the Ordinary
Method of Slices (Fellenius 1936) to evaluate the
factor of safety of the slope. In Row 1, the input
parameters for the slope are presented. Specifi-
cally, n is the number of slices, c is the unit
weight of the slope material, cw is the unit weight
of water, c is the cohesion and / is the friction
angle of the material at the sliding surface.
Beginning from Row 2, the details of the con-
tents of each of the columns are provided next.
Column A is simply a count of the number of
slices beginning at one and extending to the
desired number of slices. Column B represents
the x-coordinate of the left hand side of the
corresponding slice. For example, the value in
Cell B5 is the x-coordinate corresponding to the
left edge of Slice 3. Columns C, D, and E rep-
resent the y-coordinate of the sliding surface (ys),
ground water table (yw) and ground surface (yg)
at the corresponding x-coordinate in Column B.
The information in the rows and columns
described are required in order to perform the
remainder of the computations necessary in order
to determine the factor of safety.
The width of each slice in computed in
Column F as the difference the x-coordinates for
the left and right hand side of each slice. For
Using Excel Tools for Slope Stability Analysis 415

Table 1 Summary of some common limit equilibrium slope stability analysis methods
Procedure Assumptions Equilibrium Unknowns Uses
Infinite slope Infinite extent of sloe Forces Factor of safety, normal Homogenous cohesionless
(Taylor with a slip surface perpendicular force on base slopes and slopes were
1948) parallel to the slope and parallel to stratigraphy restricts
face slope surface to shallow depths
and parallel to slope face;
very accurate where
applicable
Swedish Circular slip surface; Moments about Factor of safety Slopes where u = 0;
circle friction angle is equal to center relatively thick zones of
(Fellenius zero weaker materials where
1922; the slip surface is
Skempton approximately circular
1948)
Ordinary Circular slip surface; Moments about Factor of safety Nonhomogeneous slopes
method of neglects forces on the center and c-u soils where slip
slices slice sides surface can be
(Fellenius approximated by a circle;
1936) very convenient for hand
calculations; inaccurate for
effective stress analysis
with high pore water
pressures
Bishop Circular slip surface; Moments about Factor of safety; normal Nonhomogeneous slopes
simplified horizontal forces on the center; forces in force on bases and c-u soils where slip
method slice sides of the slices the vertical surface can be
(Bishop direction approximated by a circle;
1955) more accurate than OMS
especially for analyses
with high pore water
pressures; calculation
feasible by hand or
spreadsheet
Lowe and Slice side forces are Forces in the Factor of safety; normal Virtually all slope
Karafiath inclined at the average vertical and force on bases; interslice geometries and soil
(1959) slope of the ground and horizontal forces profiles; less accurate than
method sliding surfaces directions complete equilibrium
procedures; results are
sensitive to assumed
inclinations for interslice
force
Spencer Parallel interslice Moments about Factor of safety; Accurate procedure;
(1967) forces; normal force is any point; interslice force virtually all slope
method acting at the center of forces in the inclination; normal force geometries and soil
the slice base horizontal and on bases; interslice profiles; simplest complete
vertical forces; location of side equilibrium procedure
direction forces
Morgenstern Interslice shear force Moments about Factor of safety; Accurate procedure;
and Price and normal force are any point; interslice force virtually all slope
(1967) related; normal force is forces in the inclination and location; geometries and soil
method acting at the center of horizontal and normal force on bases; profiles; rigorous;
the slice base vertical horizontal interslice well-established complete
direction forces equilibrium procedure
416
Fig. 1 Screenshot of excel spreadsheet for ordinary method of slices
example, the formula in Cell F5 would be
“=B5-B4”. Column G contains the height of the
soil mass above the sliding surface (hs) and is
computed for the i-th slice using:
hs;i ¼ yg;i  ys;i
Thus, the Cell G5 contains the formula “=E5-C5”.
Similarly, Column H represents the height of the
water column (hw) above the sliding surface. This
value is found for the i-th slice using:
hw;i ¼ yw;i  ys;i
when the ground water table is above the sliding
surface. If the ground water table is below the
sliding surface, this value should be equal to
zero. This is established using an IF command in
Excel, which converts the negative values to
zero. The Cell H5 would contain the formula
“=IF(D5-C5 < 0,0,D5-C5)”. As the values in
Columns G and H represent the values of hs and
hw on the left hand side of the ith slice, the
average values of hs and hw in each slice, denoted
hs,ave and hw,ave are calculated in Columns I and
J, respectively. Specifically, the formulas in Cells
I5 and J5 are “=AVERAGE(G4:G5)” and
“=AVERAGE(H4:H5)”, respectively.
B. Ajmera and B. Tiwari
Column K contains the weight of the slice
(W), which is determined for the ith slice using
the following equation:
Wi ¼ cbi hs;ave;i
As the unit weight is considered to be a constant
across all of the material above the sliding sur-
face, this cell is fixed. Thus, the formula is Cell
K5 is “F5 * I5 * $F$1”. The inclination of the
base of the slice, a, is determined using the dif-
ference between the y-coordinates of the left and
right hand side of the slice and the width of the
slice and complied in Column L. The formula in
Cell L5 is “=DEGREES(ATAN((C5-C4)/F5))”.
Column M contains the pore water pressure
(u) acting at the base of the slice, which is
determined for the i-th slice from:
ui ¼ cw hw;ave;i
This corresponds to the formula “=$H$1 * J5” in
Cell M5. Columns N and O resolve the weight
into its normal (W cos a) and tangential (W sin a)
components, respectively, relative to the base of
the slice. Thus, the formulas in Cells N5 and O5
are “=K5 * COS(RADIANS(L5))” and “=K5 *
SIN(RADIANS(L5))”, respectively. The length
Using Excel Tools for Slope Stability Analysis
(L) of the sliding surface for the ith slice is
computed using:
bi
Li ¼
cos ai
This value is calculated in Column P, with the
formula in Cell P5 being “=F5/COS(RADIANS
(L5))”. The weight of water (U) in Column Q is
computed for the i-th slice from:
Ui ¼ ui Li
This would imply that Cell Q5 contains the for-
mula “=M5 * P5”. Finally, Column R contains
the sum of the normal forces on the base of the
slice (W cos a − U). Thus, Cell R5 contains the
formula “=N5-Q5”.
To compute the factor of safety using the
Ordinary Method of Slices, the sum of the values
in Columns O, R, and P are determined in Cells
U4, U5, and U6, respectively. The factor of
safety (FS) is then:
P P
c Lþ ðW cos a  U Þ tan /
FS ¼ P the example shown in Fig. 2, this corresponds to
W sin a
Therefore, the formula in Cell U7 is “=((J1 *
U6) + (U5 * TAN(RADIANS(L1))))/U4”.
Fig. 2 Screenshot of excel spreadsheet for Bishop’s simplified method
417
4 Spreadsheet for Bishop’s
Simplified Method
Presented in Fig. 2 is a screenshot of an Excel
Spreadsheet for Bishop’s Simplified Method
(Bishop 1955). The information and computa-
tions presented in Row 1 and Columns A through
Q are the same as those presented above in
Sect. 3 for the Ordinary Method of Slices.
Column R contains the difference in the weight
of the slice and the weight of water. This would
correspond to the formula “=K5-Q5” in Cell R5.
Column S contains the values of ma, which is
computed for the i-th slice using:
tan / sin ai
ma;i ¼ cos ai þ
FS
Note that in order to solve for the value of ma,
the value of the factor of safety must be known.
Thus, Bishop’s Simplified Method becomes an
iterative process, which can still be solved using
the spreadsheet, but with the creation of a cell
containing a trial value for the factor of safety. In
Cell W7. Therefore, the formula for ma entered
in Cell S5 is “=(COS(RADIANS(L5))) + ((TAN
(RADIANS($L$1)) * SIN(RADIANS(L5)))/$W
$7)”.
418
Column T contains the value of the numerator
for the equation for the factor of safety for
Bishop’s Simplified Method, which is computed
as shown in the following equation:
P Sect. 3. The contents and formulas in Column S
ðcL þ ðW  U Þ tan /Þ m1a
FS ¼ P
W sin a
The formula in Cell T5 is, then, “=(($J
$1 * F5) + R5 * TAN(RADIANS($L$1)))/S5”.
Cells W4, W5 and W6 contain the sum of the
values in Columns O, P, and T, respectively.
Using this information, the factor of safety is
calculated in Cell W8 as “=W6/W4”. To deter-
mine the factor of safety, the value of the trial
factor of safety is W7 should be changed until it
is equal to the value of the calculated factor of
safety in Cell W8.
5 Spreadsheet for Lowe
and Karafiath and Simplified
Janbu Methods
A simple spreadsheet can also be developed to
determine the stability of slopes using the Lowe
and Karafiath (1959) and Simplified Janbu
Methods (Janbu et al. 1956). The formulas
required to do so will be outlined in this section
of this teaching tool. A screenshot of an Excel
Spreadsheet created for the Lowe and Karafiath
Fig. 3 Screenshot of excel spreadsheet for Lowe and Karafiath method
B. Ajmera and B. Tiwari
Method is provided in Fig. 3. The formulas and
contents of Row 1 and Columns A through L and
N through R are the same as that described pre-
viously for the Ordinary Method of Slices in
were described in Sect. 4. The remaining col-
umns and the calculation for the factor of safety
are presented in this section.
In the Lowe and Karafiath Method, the incli-
nation of the interslice forces is assumed to be at
the average inclination of the ground surface and
the sliding surface. To determine this inclination,
Column M contains the inclination of the ground
surface (ag), which is computed by considering
the difference in the y-coordinates of the ground
surface at the left and right hand side of the slice
and the thickness of the slice. Specifically, the
formula in Cell M5 is “=DEGREES(ATAN((E5–
E4)/F5))”. Thus, the inclination of the interslice
force at the left hand side of the ith slice is
computed using:
ai þ ag;i
hi ¼
2
This translates to the formula “=AVERAGE(L5:
M5)” in Cell T5. In the Simplified Janbu
Method, the interslice force is assumed to be
horizontal; that is, the angle of inclination from
the horizontal (h) is equal to zero. This is
inputted into Column T instead of the computa-
tion presented above. The magnitude of the
Using Excel Tools for Slope Stability Analysis
interslice force at the left side of ith slice (Zi+1)
will be calculated using:
Fv sin a þ FH cos a þ Zi cosða  hÞ  ½Fv cos a  FH sin a þ U þ Zi sinða  hÞ tanFSð/Þ þ
Zi þ 1 ¼
cosða  hi þ 1 Þ þ
where, Fv is the sum of all known forces in the
vertical direction including the weight of the slice
and FH is the sum of all known forces in the
horizontal direction. When there are no surface
loads, no seismic forces and no forces from
reinforcement, Fv will be equal to –W and FH
will be equal to zero. In the example in Fig. 3, it
was assumed that there are no surface loads, no
seismic forces and no forces from reinforcement.
Columns U and V represent the numerator
(Zi,NUM) and denominator (Zi,DEM), of the
equation given above. Thus, the formula in Cell
U5 is “=(P4) + (W3 * COS(RADIANS
(L4−T3))) − (((O4 + R4 + W3 * SIN(RADIANS
Fig. 4 Correction factors for
simplified Janbu method as
summarized by Duncan et al.
(2014)
419
(L4−T3))) * (TAN(RADIANS($L$1))))/$Z
$4) + ($J$1 * Q4/$Z$4)”.
cL
FS
sinðahi þ 1 Þ tan /
FS
Similarly, the formula in Cell V5 is “=
(COS(RADIANS(L4−T4))) + ((SIN(RADIANS
(L4−T4)) * TAN(RADIANS($L$1)))/$Z$4).
The magnitude of the interslice force is, then,
calculated in Column W. The formula in Cell W5
is “=U5/V5”.
To determine the factor of safety using the
Lowe and Karafiath Method and the Simplified
Janbu Method, the value of the factor of safety
(FSo) in Cell Z4 is changed until the value of Zi
for the last slice is equal to zero or within a
tolerance range close to zero. As the Simplified
Janbu method always yielded factors of safety
values that are lower than those from more
420
rigorous procedures, Janbu (1973) proposed a
series of factors to increase the factor of safety.
These factors, presented in Fig. 4, are dependent
on the ratio of the maximum depth and the length
of the sliding surface. From Fig. 4, the corre-
sponding value of the factor (fo) is, then, used to
compute the factor of safety (FS) using:
FS ¼ fo FSo
The geometry and parameters from the slope
used as an example in this document were
inputted in RocScience Slide 6.0. The factors of
safety for each method were determined using
this program and compared to the results
obtained from the spreadsheets developed. It was
found that the results for the factors of safety
obtained from these sample spreadsheets were
within 10% of the results obtained from the
software.
6 Conclusions
Understanding the stability of slopes is critical in
order to prevent the loss of lives and damage to
infrastructure. There are a number of available
methods to determine the stability of slopes. The
methods consider different conditions of equi-
librium and directions of interslice forces and
vary in simplicity from simple to very complex.
Moreover, while there are several software pro-
grams available to compute the factor of safety of
slopes, these programs need to be purchased and
require user familiarity with the available func-
tions in order to operate. It is, therefore, benefi-
cial to use simple spreadsheets to gain an
understanding of the stability of slope. This
B. Ajmera and B. Tiwari
teaching tool outlined the procedures to develop
such spreadsheets for four commonly used slope
stability analysis methods, namely, the Ordinary
Method of Slices, Bishop’s Simplified Method,
Simplified Janbu Method and the Lowe and
Karafiath Method.
References
Bishop AW (1955) The use of slip circle in the stability
analysis of earth slopes. Géotechnique 5(1):7–17
Duncan JM, Wright SG, Brandon TL (2014) Soil strength
and slope stability. Wiley, New Jersey, p 2
Fellenius W (1922) Staten Jarnjvagars Geoteknniska
Commission. Stockholm, Sweden
Fellenius W (1936) Calculation of the stability of earth
dams. In: Transactions of the 2nd congress on large
dams, international commission on large dams of the
world power conference, vol 4, pp 445–462
Janbu N (1973) Slope stability computations.
Embankment-dam engineering-Casagrande. Wiley,
New York, pp 47–86
Janbu N, Bjerrum L, Kjærnsli B (1956) Veiledning ved
Løsnig av Fundamenteriingsoppgaver (Soil mechanics
applied to some engineering problems) vol 16.
Norwegian Geotechnical Institute
Lowe J, Karafiath L (1959) Stability of earth dams upon
drawdown. In: Proceedings of first pan American
conference on soil mechanics and foundation engi-
neering, vol 2, pp 537–552
Morgenstern NR, Price VE (1967) A numerical method
for solving the equations of stability of general slip
surfaces. Comput J 9(4):388–393
Skempton AW (1948) The u = 0 analysis of stability and
its theoretical basis. In: Proceedings of the second
international conference on soil mechanics and foun-
dation engineering, vol 1, pp 72–78
Spencer E (1967) A method of analysis of the stability of
embankments assuming parallel inter-slice forces.
Géotechnique 17(1):11–26
Taylor DW (1948) Fundamentals of soil mechanics.
Wiley, New York