Slope Stability

Lecture 3
Types of
Slope
Instability
 Types of instability
 Slides
 Falls
 Topples
 Lateral spread
 Flows
 Complex
 Types of instability
Type Of Material
Engineering Soils
Type Of Movement
Bedrock Predominantly
Predominantly Fine
Coarse

Falls Rock Fall Debris Fall Earth Fall

Topples Rock Topple Debris Topple Earth Topple

Rotational
Slides Rock Slide Debris Slide Earth Slide
Translational
Lateral Spreads Rock Spread Debris Spread Earth Spread

Rock Flow (Deep

Flows Debris Flow Earth Flow
Creep)

Complex Combination Of Two Or More Principal Types Of Movement

 Type of Slope Instability
 Debris is a combination of loose soil,
rock, organic matter, air and water (<
50% fines)
 Earth is predominantly fine-grained
material
 Mud is an earth consisting of material that
contains at least 50% sand, silt and clay-sized
particles and enough water to make it
viscous fluid flowing rapidly.
 Type of Slope Instability
 Slides
movement involves
shear displacement
along one or more
surfaces or within a
relatively narrow zone,
which are visible or
may reasonably
inferred.
 Two subgroups are
identified
 Rotational
 Translational
 Type of Slope Instability
 Rotational
 Where movement result from forces that cause a
turning moment about a point above the centre
of gravity of the unit.
 The surface of rupture concave upwards.
 and
(earthflow)
scarp
 Type of Slope Instability
 Translational
 Where movement occurs
predominantly along more or
less planar or gently
undulatory surfaces.
 Movement is frequently,
structurally controlled by
discontinuities and variations
in shear strength between
layers of bedded deposits or
by the contact between firm
bedrock and overlying
detritus.
Type of Slope Instability
 Type of Slope Instability
 Falls
 The mass in
motion travels
most of the
distance through
the air.
 Falls include:
free fall
movement by
leaps and bounds
and rolling of
fragments of
bedrock or soil.
 Type of Slope Instability
 Falls
 The mass in motion travels most of the
distance through the air.
 Falls include: free fall movement by leaps and
bounds and rolling of fragments of bedrock or
soil.
 Type of Slope Instability
 Topples
 Toppling occurs as
movement due to
forces that cause an
over-turning moment
about a pivot point
below the centre of
gravity of the unit. If
unchecked it will
result in a fall or
slide.
 Type of Slope Instability
 Lateral spreads
 Lateral spreads are disturbed
lateral extension movements in
a fractured mass. Two
subgroups are identified:
 Where the spread is without a
well-defined controlling basal
shear surface or zone of
plastic flow.
 In which extension of rock or soil
results from liquefaction or
plastic flow of subadjacent
material.
 Type of Slope Instability
 Flows
 Two subtypes are identified:
 Bedrock

Where flows include spatially continuous deformation and

superficial as well as deep creep. They also involve
extremely slow and generally non-accelerating differential
movements among relatively intact units.
Movements may be along shear surfaces that are apparently
not connected result in folding, bending or bulging or
roughly simulate those of viscous fluids in distribution of
velocities.
 Type of Slope Instability
 Flows in Soils
 In which the movement within the displaced mass is such
that the form taken by moving material, or the apparent
distribution of velocities and displacements, resemble
those of viscous fluids.
 The slip surfaces within the moving material are usually
not visible or are short-lived.
 The boundary between the moving mass and material may
be a sharp surface of differential movement or a zone of
distributed shear.
 Movement ranges from extremely rapid to extremely slow.
Channelized Mud Flow
Debris Avalanche
Debris Avalanche
Rock Flow
Earth
Flow
This landslide and
debris flow occurred in
the spring of 1995.
Many people were
evacuated because of
the slide and the
houses nearest the
slide were completely
destroyed. Fortunately,
no one was killed or
injured.
 Type of Slope Instability
 Complex
Complex movement is by a combination of one or
more of the five other principal types of
movements.
Many landslides are complex, although one type of
movement generally dominates over the others at
certain areas within a slide or at a particular
time.
 Creep
 Creep is the imperceptibly slow, steady downward movement
of slope-forming soil or rock.
 Movement is caused by shear stress sufficient to produce
permanent deformation, but too small to produce shear
failure.
 There are generally three types of creep:
 (1)Seasonal, where movement is within the depth of soil
affected by seasonal changes in soil moisture and soil
temperature;
 (2) continuous, where shear stress continuously, exceed
the strength of the material; and
 (3) progressive, where slopes are reaching the point of
failure as other types of mass movements
 Creep is indicated by curved tree trunks, bent fences or
retaining walls, tilted poles or fences, and small soil
ripples or ridges.
 OUTLINE
• BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATION
• RESEARCH TASKS
• ACCURACY OF 3-D EXISTING STABILITY METHODS
• EFFECTS OF SIDE RESISTANCE ON 3-D FS
• BACK-ANALYSIS OF A CASE HISTORY
• FIELD FAILURE SURFACE GEOMETRY
• COMPUTER CODE
• CONCLUSIONS

33
 Field Failure Surface
• Geometry
Shortfalls in existing
modeling
• Validity of analysis
• Model hypothetical surfaces

(Baligh and Azzouz 1975)

(Hovland 1977) (Chen and Chameu 1983)

(Chang 2002)

• Basic modes of slope failures

• Rotational
• T34ranslational
 Field Failure Surface
 Geometry
Rotational slides Rotated thin bedded lake
deposits
• Curved failure surface
• Top of upper material tilted backwards
• Depth/Length ratio = 0.15-0.33

Varnes
Trees tilted 1978
backwards

Japan (Kieffer et al. 2005)

35 Ka
 Field Failure Surface
Geometry
 Rotational
slides

LA, California (Day, 2004)

Shiotani, Japan (Mashiro and Yagi 2005)

Missouri, USA (Stark, 2006)

36 Gros Ventre (Teton 2010)
 Field Failure Surface
• Geometry
Rotational slides

www.mtq.gouv.qc.cq www.mtq.gouv.qc. cq

http://gees.usc.edu/GEES/ www.ccma.vic.gov.au
37
 Field Failure Surface
• Geometry
Rotational slides

38
 Field Failure Surface
 Geometry
Translational slides
• Planer failure surface
• Follows discontinuities
• Inclined back-scarp
• Depth/Length ratio < 0.1

Fengdian landslide, China (Fan et al. 200

France (IPGP
39 2010)
 Field Failure Surface
• Geometry
Translational slides

Slide moving as block

Near vertical sides

Sebastopol, CA(Contra Costa Times 1983) Sebastopol, CA(Stark 1983)

Near vertical sides

40
 Field Failure Surface
• Geometry
Translational slides

Graben

Graben

Anchorage, Alaska (USGS, 1964) Anchorage, Alaska (USGS, 1964)

Graben

Rumpke, OH (CEC Inc. 1996)

 Field Failure Surface
• Geometry
Translational slides

Bandung, Indonesia (Blight 2008)

Kettleman hills (Seed et al. 1990)

South America (Koerner and Soong

1999)
Mahoning, USA (Stark et al. 1998b)

Oceanside Manor (Stark and Eid

1998) Rumpke, USA (Stark et al. 2000)

Tainshengqiao, China (Chen et al.

France (Ouvry et al. 1995) 2001b)

South Africa (Brink et al. 1999) Pelton Upper slide (Cornforth

42 2005)
 Field Failure Surface
• Geometry
Translational slides

43
 Field Failure Surface
• Geometry
Rotational slides
• Nearly homogenous material
• Approximately ellipsoid
• Range of aspect ratio 0.8 to
2.67

• Translational slides
• Stronger material underlain by
weaker material
• Model by Arellano and Stark 2000

44