364 Stability of slopes 9.8 Location of the most critical circle The most critical circle is the one for which the calculated factor of safety has the lowest value. The minimum factor of safety is clearly the criterion required for design. The problem of locating the most critical circle may be approached in one of two ways: (a) By a process of trial and error, using a reasonable number of ‘trial’ circles and a thoughtful search pattern. (b) By employing an empirical rule to prescribe an assumed critical circle and setting the limiting factor of safety high enough to allow for imperfections in the rule. In the trial and error approach, the method has to allow for variation in three of the geometric parameters: the position of the centre, the radius and the intercept distance in front of the toe. For acceptable reliability, a very large number of trials may have to be made. The use of computers has made this method much more feasible and also more reliable. Even when a Jarge number of trials is to be the method employed, it is still useful to produce a good estimate for the first or ‘seed’ value. Slip circle behaviour is not completely random; on the contrary, some definite patterns may be observed. For example, when the angle of friction is greater than 3°, the critical circle will almost always pass through the toe of the slope. This is also the case when, irrespective of the value of ¢, the slope angle exceeds 53° (Fig. 9.16). Figure 9.18 shows a chart from which a first trial centre may be obtained for homogeneous undrained conditions. Values of Y,/H and X,/H are read off corresponding to the slope angle , where: X,=horizontal distance from the toe to the circle centre Y¥,=vertical distance from the toe to the circle centre The first trial centre can then be made the centre of the first group of nine trial centres. After evaluation of the factors of safety, new centres are chosen tactically according to the trend of the lowest values. Variations in radius may also be oe / fa) {b) Fig. 9.16 Factors affecting the location of the critical circle (a) Through toe if ¢ > 3° or 8> 53° (b) In front of toe if #>3° or B>53°Taylor's stability number method 365 108654 325 2 15 1 0.75 05 Fig. 9.17 First trial location of the critical circle incorporated in the calculations. Simple grid plotting and contouring techniques are usually employed to ‘home-in’ on the most critical circle. Where a harder or stiffer layer of rock or soil lies beneath the slope, the depth will be limited (Fig. 9.18). The most critical circle may in fact touch the lower harder surface. 9.9 Taylor's stability number method In 1948, D. W. Taylor proposed a simple method of determining the minimum factor of safety for a slope in a homogeneous soil. Using a total stress analysis and ignoring the possibility of tension cracks, he produced a series of curves which relate a stability number (N) to the slope angle p. Consider the basic expression used in a total stress analysis F= eS (from eqn [9.12])366 Stability of slopes = stability number 0.147 Case A: use full lines for N and short-dash lines 0.09 “Case B: toe circles only. Ise long-dash lines for N 0.08, fa) Fig. 9.18 Taylor's stability number charts (2) du=0 case (b) $'>0 case It will be seen that LocH and W x yH?, ie. L=K,H, W=K2yH? Then F= c.RHK, yH?K od The stability number is dependent on the geometry of the slip circle and may be defined as: Kod ey N=Taylor’s stability number method 367 x Hope | pT foe LLL | ee War | | | I 0 10 20° 30 a0 50 «0 7° ~~ 80 SCO a Slope angle, 6 (degrees) Fig. 9.18 contd Cu NyH OF SINCE Crop, =Cu/F, required Coop. = NyH Hence, F= 9.15] Values of N related to the slope angle f, the angle of shearing resistance }, and the depth factor D, are given in the charts shown in Figs 9.18(a) and (b). For slope angles greater than 53°, the critical circle passes through the toe of the slope and the chart shown in Fig. 9.18(b) is used. For slope angles less than 53°, the critical circle may pass in front of the toe and the chart shown in Fig. 9.18(a) is used. When the critical circle will be restricted to passing through the toe, the heavy broken lines on the chart must be used. The value of n, giving the break-out point of the critical circle in front of the toe, can be obtained from the light broken lines. Worked example 9.7 A cutting in a saturated clay has a depth of 10 m. At a depth of 6 m below the floor of the cutting there is a layer of hard rock. The clay has an undrained cohesion of 34 KN/m? and a bulk unit weight of 19 kN/m?. Calculate the maximum safe slope that will provide a factor of safety of 1.25 against short-term shear failure. Refer to Fig. 9.18(a). H=10m and DH=16m v. D=1L5 bu 34 Required stability number, N= ——=—_——__ 1.25yH_ 1.25 19x 10 = 0.143 The point on the chart located by D=1.5 and N=0.143 gives a slope angle of f= 18°. Also, from the chart, n=0.2 Hence, the circle will break out 2.0 m in front of the toe.368 Stability of slopes Worked example 9.8 A cutting in a cohesive soil has a slope angle of 35° and a vertical height of 8 m. Using Taylor’s stability method, determine the factor of safety against shear failure for the following cases: (a) cy=40 kN/m? $,=0 y=18 kN/m’ D is large (6) c=40kKN/m? $,=0 y=I8kN/m’ D=15 (a) When D is large, with 8 <53° and ¢,=0, then N=0.182 a 40 0.181 x 18 x8 (b) When D=15, B=35° and },=0, then from Fig. 9.18(b): N=0.168 and n=06 =153 Factor of safety, F 40 Factor of safety, F=——“? __= 1.65 ee ee ee ex 1Rx8 Thus, the presence of the harder layer constrains the failure mode to a smaller critical circle and so the factor of safety is larger, and the break-out point (nH) of this circle will be 0.6 x 8=4.8 m. 9.10 Drained stability — effective stress analyses Stability analyses should be carried out in terms of effective stresses in problems where changes in pore pressure take place, such as existing embankments and spoil tips; also to estimate the long-term stability of slopes and in the case of overconsolidated clays for both immediate and long term conditions. Because of the variations in the stresses along a trial slip surface, the slip mass is considered as a series of slices. A trial slip circle is selected having a centre O and a radius R (Fig. 9.19), and the horizontal distance between the two ends A and B divided into slices of equal breadth b. The forces acting on a slice of length 1 m will be as follows: W =the body weight of the slice=yhb N'=the effective normal reacting force at the base of the slice T =the shearing force induced along the base =Wsing R, and R; =forces imposed on the sides from adjacent slices - which may be resolved into: E, and E; =normal interslice forces X, and X,=tangential interslice forces The effects of any surcharge on the surface must be included in the computation of the body weight and other forces. At the point of limiting equilibrium, the total disturbing moment will be exactly balanced by the moment of the total mobilised shear force along AB. LtalR= DoiR= ¥ Wsin oR