STABILITY OF SLOPES

Introduction:
Slopes may be artificial, that is, man-made, as in cuttings and embankments for highways and
roadways, earthen dams, temporary excavations, landscaping operations for development of sites
etc. The slopes may also be natural, as in hill side and valleys, coastal and river cliffs and so on.
In all these cases, forces exist which tend to cause the soil to move from high points to low points.
In other words, there exists an inherent tendency in the slopes to assume a more stable
configuration. If there is only tendency to move, it is called instability, but, if actual movement of
soil mass occurs, it is called a slope failure.

 Experience has shown that slopes of 1½ H: 1V are commonly stable.

 For dense mixture of sand and gravel with boulders, slopes of 1:1 have been permanently
stable.

 The failure of mass of soil located beneath a slope is called a SLIDE.

Objectives:
1. To study the causes for slope failure, different types of slope failures.

2. To study the different methods to analyze the stability of slopes.

Introduction:

Slopes of earth are of two types:

1. Natural slopes

2. Man made slopes

Natural slopes are those that exist in nature and are formed by natural causes. Such slope exists in
hilly areas. The sides of cuttings, the slopes of embankments constructed for roads, railway lines,
canals etc. and the slopes of earth dams constructed for storing water are examples of man-made
slopes. The slopes whether natural or artificial may be

1. Infinite slopes

2. Finite slopes

The term infinite slope is used to designate a constant slope of infinite extent. The soil properties
for all identical depths below surface of the slope are constant. The long slope of the face of a
mountain is an example of this type of slope.
The finite slopes are limited in extent. The slopes of embankments and earth dams are examples
of finite slopes. The slope length depends on the height of the dam or embankment.

Slope Stability: slope stability is an important consideration in the design and construction of
earth dams. The stability of natural slope is also important. The results of a slope failure can often
be catastrophic, involving the loss of considerable property and many lives.

Causes of Failure of Slopes:

The important factors that cause instability in a slope and lead to failure are:

1. Gravitational force

2. Force due to seepage water

3. Erosion of the surface of the slopes due to flowing water

4. The sudden lowering of water adjacent to a slope

5. Forces due to earth quakes.

Types of Slope Failures:

A slope may have any one of the following types of failure:

1. Rotational failure: This type of failure occurs by rotation along a slip surface by
downward and outward movement of soil mass. The slip surface is generally circular for
homogeneous soil and non-circular in case of non-homogeneous conditions.

There are 3 types of Rotational failure, they are:

 a. Toe failure, in which the failure occurs along the surface that passes through the toe.

b. Slope failure, in which the failure occurs along a surface that intersects the slope above
the toe.

c. Base failure, in which the failure surface passes below the toe.

The slope failure occurs when a weak plane exists above the toe. The base failure occurs when a
weak stratum lies beneath the toe. If a strong stratum exists below the toe, the slip surface of the
base failure is tangential to that stratum. In all other cases, the failures are generally toe failures.
Toe failures are most common.

The ratio of total depth of hard stratum below the slope surface (D+H) to the height of slope (H)
is called the depth factor (Df).

For toe failure, Df = 1; for base failure, Df >1.

2. Translational failure: A constant slope of unlimited extent having uniform soil properties
at the same depth below the free surface is known as an infinite slope. In practice, the
slopes which are of considerable extent and in which the conditions on all verticals are
adequately represented by average conditions are designated as infinite slopes.

Translational failure occurs in an infinite slope along a long failure surface parallel to the
slope. The shape of the failure surface is influenced by the presence of any hard stratum at
a shallow depth below the slope surface. Translational slopes may also occur along slopes
of layered materials.
 3. Compound failure: A compound failure is a combination of the rotational slips and the
translational slip. A compound failure surface is curved at the two ends and plane in the
middle portion. A compound failure generally occurs when a hard stratum exists at
considerable depth below the toe.

4. Wedge failure: A failure along an inclined plane is known as plane failure or wedge failure
or block failure. It occurs when distinct blocks and wedges of the soil mass become
separated.

Different definitions of factor of safety:

a. Factor of safety with respect to shear strength:

In common usage, the factor of safety is defined as the ratio of the shear strength to the
shear stress along the surface of failure. The factor of safety as defined is known as the
factor of safety with respect to shear strength.
s
Thus Fs 
m
Where Fs=factor of safety with respect to shear strength

S=shear strength

τm=mobilized shear strength (applied shear stress)

The above equation can be written in terms of the cohesion intercept and the angle of shear
resistance as
c   tan 
Fs 
cm   tan m
 Rearranging the above equation

c  tan 
  cm   tan m
Fs Fs
Therefore,
c
cm 
Fs
tan 
tan m 
Fs

The above equations indicate that the factor of safety with respect to the cohesion intercept and
that with respect to the angle of shearing resistance are equal to the factor of safety with respect to
the shear strength.

b. Factor of safety with respect to cohesion

The factor of safety with respect to cohesion (Fc) is the ratio of the available cohesion
intercept (c) and the mobilized cohesion intercept.

c
Thus Fc 
cm

Where c is the cohesion intercept, cm is the mobilized cohesion intercept and Fc is the factor
of safety with respect to cohesion

c. Factor of safety with respect to friction:

Factor of safety with respect to friction is the ratio of the available frictional strength to the
mobilized frictional strength. Thus

 tan 
F 
 tan m
tan 
F 
tan m

Where фm=factor of safety with respect to friction

Ф=angle of shearing resistance

фm=angle of mobilized shearing resistance


For small angles, F 
m
Stability of Infinite Slope of Cohesionless Soils:

The stability criteria of an infinite slope of cohesionless soil depend upon whether the soil is dry
or submerged or has steady seepage.

1. Dry Soil: The above figure shows a section of an infinite slope having a slope angle of ‘i’. Let
us consider the prism ABCD of the soil, with the inclined length AB equal to ‘b’. The horizontal
length of the prism is b cos i. The height of the prism is ‘H’.

Volume of prism per unit length = Hb cos i

Weight of the prism per unit length=W=   Hb cos i 

The weight of the prism can be resolved into the normal component N and the tangential
component T to plane CD.

N  W cos i   Hb cos 2 i
T  W sin i   Hb cos i sin i

The normal and shear stresses are given by

N  Hb cos 2 i
    H cos 2 i
b b
T  Hb cos i sin i
    H cos i sin i
b b
The shear stresses τ tends to cause the shear failure along CD. This tendency is opposed by the
sharing resistance developed along the plane CD. As the soil is dry, there is no pore water pressure.

Therefore, s   tan     tan  

or

s   H cos 2 i tan  
The factor of safety against shear failure is given by

Fs 
s

 H cos i  tan  
2

  H cos i sin i
tan  
Fs 
tan i
The above equation indicates that the slope is just stable when ф′=i.

The maximum stable slope in a coarse grained soil, in the absence of seepage, is equal to the
friction angle.

For the slope angle i greater than ф′, the slope is not stable.

The factor of safety is greater than unity when is less than ф′.

The factor of safety of an infinite slope of cohesion less soil is independent of the height H of the
assumed failure plane.

The above equation can be represented graphically. The ordinate PQ is equal to σ tanф′ and
represents the shear strength. The ordinate P1Q represents the shear stress τ equal to σ tan i.

s PQ tan  '
The factor of safety is given by, Fs   
 PQ
1 tan i

2. Submerged Slope:

If the slope is submerged under water, the normal effective stress and the shear stress are calculated
using the submerged unit weight and not the bulk unit weight.

   H cos2 i
   H sin i cos i

Where γ′ is the submerged unit weight

Therefore factor of safety is given by,

 𝑠 𝛾 𝐻𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝑖. 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜑
𝐹 = =
𝜏 𝛾 𝐻𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑖. 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑖

𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜑
𝐹 =
𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑖
It is observed that the factor of safety of a submerged slope is the same as that in dry condition.

3. Steady seepage along the slope:

The following figures show an infinite slope with steady seepage parallel to the ground surface,
with the free water surface coinciding with the ground surface.

There is a prism ABCD of the soil. The forces acting on the vertical sides of the prism due to water
and soil are equal and opposite and therefore, cancel. The weight of the prism W is taken
corresponding to the saturated conditions.

Therefore,

W   sat Hb cos i
N  W cos i   sat Hb cos 2 i
T  W sin i   sat Hb sin i cos i

At the base of the prism there is an upward force due to water pressure (u), given by

u   w H cos 2 i


Uplift force, U   w H cos 2 i b 
Thus, the net normal force,
 
N  N  U   sat Hb cos 2 i   w H cos 2 i b 
or
N   bH cos 2 i

Where γ′ is the submerged unit weight.

N
The effective stress is given by,     H cos 2 i
b

Shear strength, s   tan     H cos2 i tan  

T
The shear stress is given by,     sat H sin i cos i
b

Therefore factor of safety is given by,

s  H cos 2 i tan  
Fs  
  sat H sin i cos i
or
  tan  
Fs 
 sat tan i

As submerged unit weight, ’, is about half of sat, the factor of safety of the slope is reduced to
about half of that corresponding to the condition when there is no seepage.

Stability analysis of an infinite slope of cohesive soils:

The stability analysis of an infinite slope of cohesive soils is similar to that in the case of
cohesionless soil, with one basic difference that the shear strength of cohesive soil (c-ф) soil is
given by,

s  c   tan  

1. Dry soil:

Using the values of  and τ from the previous case, we have,

 
s  c   H cos 2 i tan  
   H cos i sin i

Therefore the factor of safety is given by,

Fs 
 
c   H cos 2 i tan  
 H sin i cos i

Thus the factor of safety of an infinite slope in cohesive soil depends not only on ф′ and i, but
also on γ, H and c′.

Graphical method,

Line RP2 is the failure envelope.

When, i<’, slope is always safe (OP1).

i>’, slope line cuts the failure envelope.

At point P, slope is just stable.

For normal stress greater than that indicated by point P, shear stress > shear strength, so, slope is
not stable.

As normal stress depends upon the height of the slope (H), an expression of height can be found
when the slope is just stable.

Equating shear stress and shear strength corresponding to point P,

𝛾𝐻𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑖. 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑖 = 𝑐 + 𝛾𝐻𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝑖. 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜑

𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑖
𝑜𝑟, 𝛾𝐻𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝑖 − 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜑 =𝑐
𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑖
𝑐′
𝐻=
𝛾(𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑖 − 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜑′)𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝑖
The height at which the slope is just stable is known as critical height (H c). So,

𝑐′
𝐻 =
𝛾(𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑖 − 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜑′)𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝑖

Rewriting the above equation,

𝑐′
= (𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑖 − 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜑′)𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝑖
𝛾𝐻

is a dimensionless quantity, which is called stability number, S n.

Let, Fc be the FOS with respect to cohesion and c m be the mobilized cohesion at depth H,

𝐹 = or, 𝑐 =

Stability number is then written as,

𝒄 𝒄𝒎 𝒄
𝑺𝒏 = = = = (𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒊 − 𝒕𝒂𝒏𝝋′)𝒄𝒐𝒔𝟐 𝒊
𝜸𝑯𝒄 𝜸𝑯 𝑭𝒄 𝜸𝑯

Or, 𝐹 =

So, FOS with respect to cohesion also represents FOS with respect to height.

2. Submerged slope:

As in the case of cohesionless soils, the normal and the tangential components of the weight are
taken for submerged unit weights and not for bulk unit weights.

Therefore, factor of safety,

c   H cos 2 i tan  
Fs 
 ' H cos i sin i

The value ф′ in the above equation should be taken corresponding to the submerged condition,
which may be quite different from that in the dry condition in case of cohesive soil.

3. Steady seepage along the slope:

The case is similar to that of cohesionless soil. The factor of safety is given by,

c   H cos 2 i tan  
Fs 
 sat H cos i sin i
The critical height is obtained by taking factor of safety =1. Thus

c   H c cos 2 i tan     sat H c cos i sin i

or
H c cos 2 i   sat tan i    tan     c
c
Hc 
cos i   sat tan i    tan   
2

or
c
Hc 
    
 sat  tan i    tan   cos i
2

 
 sat  

The above equation indicates that the effect of the angle of shearing resistance ф′ is reduced as
compared with dry soil.