Escuela Militar de Cadetes General José Marı́a Córdova

Faculty of Civil Engineering

Slope Stability
Assignment 3: Slope design
October 2023

As part of the contracting process for the construction of a road in the municipality of San Gil
(Santander), it is required to evaluate the stability of a slope located between the abscissae
KM01+200 and KM1+325 of this road. Since the project is in a pre-contractual stage, a
preliminary design of the road slope is required. Use the available information (Figure 1 and
Tables 1 to 8) to evaluate the slope stability using an appropriate stability analysis method.
Consider determining the critical circular slip surfaces for different centers to ensure a correct
overall result. If you consider using slice methods, use at least 10 slices for your calculations.
Finally, present your stability analysis in a memo format with the applicable items listed in
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Manual 1110-2-1902.

Vehicular load, q = 10 kN/m²

1.25
7.5m
5m

2.00
5m

1
Borehole - B03

Borehole - B04
Borehole - B02
Borehole - B01

Figure 1: Slope scheme.

1
Table 1: SPT test results in Borehole - B01.
Depth [m] N60 [-] Visual soil classification
1.0 4 Silty soil
2.0 10 Clayey soil
3.5 8 Clayey soil
4.0 12 Sandy clay soil
5.0 24 Coarse sand
6.0 25 Coarse sand
7.0 24 Sand with gravel
8.0 29 Sand with gravel
9.0 30 Sand with gravel
10.5 29 Sand with gravel
11.0 31 Sand with gravel
12.0 32 Sand with gravel
12.5 32 Sand with gravel
14.0 30 Sand with gravel
15.0 31 Sand with gravel
Note: Water table at 4.0 m depth.

Table 2: SPT test results in Borehole - B02.

Depth [m] N60 [-] Visual soil classification
1.0 3 Silty soil
3.0 10 Clayey soil
4.0 9 Clayey soil
4.5 9 Clayey soil
5.1 11 Clayey soil
6.0 12 Sandy clay soil
6.5 20 Coarse sand
7.0 26 Coarse sand
8.0 25 Coarse sand
9.5 25 Coarse sand
10.0 27 Coarse sand
11.0 30 Sand with gravel
12.0 29 Sand with gravel
13.0 30 Sand with gravel
14.0 32 Sand with gravel
14.5 31 Sand with gravel
15.0 30 Sand with gravel
Note: Water table at 6.8 m depth.

2
Table 3: SPT test results in Borehole - B03.
Depth [m] N60 [-] Visual soil classification
1.0 3 Silty soil
2.0 26 Sandy clay soil
3.5 24 Coarse sand
6.0 26 Coarse sand
7.5 25 Coarse sand
8.5 25 Coarse sand
9.0 26 Coarse sand
10.0 31 Sand with gravel
Note: Water table at 5.9 m depth.

Table 4: SPT test results in Borehole - B04.

Depth [m] N60 [-] Visual soil classification
0.5 1 Sandy clay soil
2.5 24 Coarse sand
4.0 28 Coarse sand
5.0 25 Coarse sand
6.0 26 Coarse sand
7.0 25 Coarse sand
9.0 26 Coarse sand
10.0 28 Coarse sand
12.0 27 Coarse sand
13.0 28 Coarse sand
13.5 25 Coarse sand
14.0 26 Coarse sand
15.0 31 Sand with gravel
Note: Water table at 10.6 m depth.

Table 5: Physical properties for silty soil.

Borehole B01 B02 B03 B04
ω [%] 25.0 25.2 25.0 -
G
 s [-] 2.61 2.60 2.58 -
3
γ kN/m 14.5 14.7 14.5 -

3
 Table 6: Physical properties for clayey soil.
Borehole B01 B02 B03 B04
ω [%] 40.0 39.0 40.0 -
G
 s [-] 2.71 2.71 2.70 -
3
γ kN/m 16.4 16.5 16.3 -

Table 7: Physical properties for coarse sand.

Borehole B01 B02 B03 B04
ω [%] 15.0 15.7 15.5 14.9
G
 s [-] 2.65 2.65 2.64 2.65
3
γ kN/m - - - -

Table 8: Physical properties for sand wirh gravel.

Borehole B01 B02 B03 B04
ω [%] 12.0 11.8 11.8 12.1
G
 s [-] 2.66 2.64 2.64 2.65
3
γ kN/m - - - -