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Residual Soils
Residual Soils
PHILIP C. LAMBE
RESIDUALSOILS
1. INTRODUCTION Kong soils into six material grades and four profile
zones.
ecause residual soils weather from parent In 1990 a working party of the Engineering
B bedrock, the soil profile represents a history
of the weathering process. Profile classification sys-
Group of the Geological Society of London issued
an extensive report entitled Tropical Residual SoiLs
tems distinguish states of weathering and separate (Geological Society of London 1990), which pro-
the profile vertically into different zones. The per- posed the classification of tropical residual soils
meability and shear strength gradually change with presented in Figure 19-2. This classification conk
depth, which controls both the local seepage re- tains a series of grades identified by roman numer-
sponse to rainfall infiltration and the location of the als I through VI. Comparison of the Deere and
shear surface. Soil profile thickness atid properties Patton classification (Figure 19-1) with the
depend upon parent bedrock, discontinuities, Geological Society of London working party clas-
topography, and climate. Because these factors vary sification (Figure 19-2) reveals the potential for
horizontally, the profile can vary significantly over significant confusion. Both classifications use
relatively short horizontal distances. In addition, roman numerals to identify different portions of
deep profiles form in tropical regions where weath- the weathering profile. However, Deere and
ering agents are especially strong and the advanced Patton use roman numeral I to identify the most
stages of chemical weathering form cemented soils intensely weathered material at the top of the pro-
called laterites. Technical papers often refer to both file, whereas the working party uses roman nu-
tropical soils and residual soils. In this chapter gen- meral I to define fresh rock at the base of the
eral characteristics of residual soils are considered profile. Obviously the "grades" of the working
and illustrated with examples drawn from Brazil, party and the "zones" of Deere and Patton attempt
Hong Kong, and North Carolina. to define the same phenomena.
Figure 19-1 shows the typical weathering pro- In this chapter Deere and Patton's system as de-
files that develop over igneous and metamorphic fined in Figure 19-1 will be used exclusively, al-
rocks labeled according to Deere and Patton's though it is recognized that other systems, such as
(1971) profile classification system, which divides the classification by the Geological Society of
the profile into three zones: residual soil, weathered London working party defined in Figure 19-2, may
rock, and unweathered rock. In addition, Deere and work better in some regions. Papers describing land-
Patton present 12 other weathering-profile classi- slides in residual soils often spend more time quali-
fication systems proposed by workers from other tatively describing the profile and the horizontal
regions. For example, Brand (1985) divided Hong variability than in quantitatively reporting mea-
507
508 Landslides:Investigation and Mitigation
Colluvium or I
other Transported Soils olluvium Etc.
"pebble marker" i
common
here IA IA
A horizon
lB lB
B horizon
I. Residual Soi'
IC IC
C horizon
hA hA
Transition
from
Saprolite
to
Weathered
Rock
llWeatheredRock
IIB UB
Partly
Weathered
Rock
FIGURE 19-1 sured pore pressures and shear-strength parameters, structure, the soils in these horizons resemble the
Typical weathering Brand(1985) concluded that the ability to predict silty clays, sandy silts, and silty sands found in
profile for the performance of slopes in residual soils is only transported soils. Soils in horizon C, or saprolite,
metamorphic and behave differently than transported soils do.
poor to fair.
igneous rocks
Table 19-1 shows the relative permeability and Deere and Patton emphasized that the profile clas-
(Deere and Patton
1971). shear strength for materials within different sification has to be added to more traditional soil
REPRINThO WITH weathering profile zones as defined by Deere and classifications during exploration. Generally, un-
PERMISSION OF
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF Patton(1971). The subdivision of Zone I, residual ambiguous classification requires continuous sam-
CIVIL ENGINEERS
soil, into A, B, and C horizons follows the con- pling or inspection of open cuts in test pits or road
vention used by soil scientists who study weather- cuts. Brand and Phillipson (1985) provided a
ing processes in the formation of soils. Soils in A good overview of practices used around the world
and B horizons have experienced significant to sample and test residual soils.
chemical weathering that results in a breakdown Saprolites retain the structure of parent
of rock into silt- and clay-sized particles. Rainfall bedrock, but with only a trace of the original bond
infiltration leaches chemicals from the A horizon, strength. De Mello(1972) suggested that standard
which then accumulate in the B horizon. Because soil properties tests performed on thoroughly
weathering has removed most traces of bedrock mixed specimens do not effectively represent
A. Defined idealized weathering B. Descriptions of characteristics C. Example of a
Iprofiles - without corestones (left) I of the idealized profiles. complex profile
I with corestones i
Iand with corestones (right). iI
IV
More than 50% of rock material decomposed and/or
Highly
• •S.: <•
Ss..
•'S •'
: •--• disintegrated into soil.
Fresh/discolored rock present as discontinuous
weathered framework or corestones.
••:'.• ..'.
LEGEND
FIGURE 19-2
Tropical residual soil
classification proposed by Geological Society of London working party
(Geological Society of London 1990).
510 Landslides: Investigation and Mitigation
Table.19-1
Description of Weathering Profile for Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks (modified from Deere and Patton 1971)
saprolite soil properties. Both Sowers(1954, 1963) cally when unloaded during sampling. This ex-
and Vaughan (1985a) have correlated properties pansion breaks weak bonds and decreases the
to void ratio rather than to Atterberg limits be- soil's laboratory-measured shear strength and stiff-
cause the void ratio represents the in Situ state. ness (Bressani and Vaughan 1989).
Figure 19-1 shows that saprolites also retain relict Zone hA, or upper weathered-rock zone, pro-
discontinuities or joints present in parent vides a transition from saprolite to partly weath-
bedrock. These discontinuities significantly influ- ered rock (PWR). In Zone hA the soil becomes
ence the permeability and shear strength of the progressively coarser with depth and has more
soil mass. In some cases laboratory-sized speci- core stones and clearer discontinuities. Although
mens provide misleading permeability coefficients arbitrary boundaries separate different zones, the
and shear strengths. In addition, highly miaceous profile exhibits trends in changing properties.
residual soils derived from gneisses expand elasti- Zone hA materials are describedas soils, but it is
Residual Soils 511
difficult to provide undisturbed samples of them occur primarily in shallow Zone IA and lB soils,
for laboratory strength and permeability testing. where colluvium from previous landslides has not
Stability analyses of residual soil slopes fall in the covered the profile. Landslides frequently occur
continuum between soil mechanics and rock me- during heavy rainfall, and the saturated soil often
chanics. Saprolites behave like soils but often moves as debris flows or mud flows. Jones (1973)
slide along discontinuities. In contrast, Zone hA described how many Type a landslides killed more
transition materials exhibit both rocklike and than 1,700 people during heavy rainfall in January
soil-like properties. Since Zone hA materials 1967 in the Serra das Araras region of Brazil. Type
often have higher permeabilities than the overly- b landslides fail along relict joints located in Zone
ing saprolites, they influence seepage in cut slopes. IC (saprolite), Zone hA (transition), or Zone JIB
Slopes composed of materials classified as Zone (PWR). The joint pattern controls the shape of
IIB (PWR) and Zone III (unweathered rock) are the landsliding mass. Although rainfall signifi-
best treated as rock slopes. The depth of the cantly influences pore pressures, landsliding can FIGURE 19-3
boundary between Zones IIB and III significantly occur well after heavy rains when two- or three- Common types of
influences the cost of excavation in residual soil dimensional seepage causes slope failures. In con- landslides in
(White and Richardson 1987). trast, vertical infiltration of rainfall is the most weathered rock,
Figure 19-3 shows four common landslide types frequent cause of shallow Type a and b landslides. residual soil, and
found in residual soil slopes (Deere and Patton Type c and d landslides resemble Type a and b colluvium
1971). Generally, investigations in specific re- landslides but occur in colluvium-covered weath- (Deere and Patton
1971).
gions identify and classify the common landslide ered profiles. In these residual soil profiles, the REPRINTED WITH
types; Deere and Patton's classification system overlying colluvium usually resembles the texture PERMISSION OF
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF
provides a general framework. Type a landslides of the underlying residual materials but lacks the CIVIL ENGINEERS
Zone Zone
lVr
I I,-
'I,
Zone Zone
III
(d) /
\
'11
512 Landslides: Investigation and Mitigation
rocklike structure and relict joints. Previous land- engineering properties of tropical soils, qualita-
sliding mixes the colluvium with cobbles and core tively defined six stages of weathering, and de-
stones, making sampling difficult. Type c landslides scribed the corresponding changes in mineralogy
differ little from Type a landslides except that the and soil properties. Vaughan et al. (1988) reported
material properties are harder to measure. For Type that bond strength and void ratio control behavior
d landslides, the colluvial cover significantly influ- of residual soils and that geologic origins of these
ences seepage. At the Boone landslide in North soils cause the following primary characteristics:
Carolina, described in Section 4.3, the colluvium
had a higher permeability than the underlying 1.The bonding derived from soil evolution and
saprolite. In contrast, at the Balsam Gap landslide, found at equilibrium with the current in situ
also in North Carolina, the colluvium had a lower stress state influences the soil's strength and
permeability and acted as a low-permeability cap. stiffness,
Mapping the colluvium thickness provides a useful The stress history during soil formation has little
description of the horizontal variability controlling effect on the soil's current properties,
both current seepage and historical slide activity. Soils have widely varying mineralogy and grain
Brand (1985) found that engineers often classify strength, and
colluvium as residual soil. In situ soils have widely varying void ratios.
Deere and Patton's classification system consid-
ers only cut slopes in residual soil profiles. Fre- Vaughan et al. (1988) experimentally examined
quently, highway construction requires fill slopes the behavior of weakly bonded soils by artificially
over residual soils. Lumb (1975) included fill slopes manufacturing test soils from a quartz and kaolin
placed upon residual soil slopes as one common sand mixed with kaolin slurry and then fired in a
and particularly dangerous landslide type in Hong furnace.
Kong. Generally, residual soils have much higher Figure 194 shows a conceptual description of
values for in-place mass permeabilities than the soil behavior for a weakly bonded soil. In Figure
same materials have once they have been trans- 19-4(a), void ratio, e, versus mean effective stress,
ported, mixed, and compacted. Therefore, com- p', the solid curve represents an oedometer test on
pacted fills often act as low-permeability caps, a weakly bonded specimen. The dashed curve la-
disrupting the natural seepage pattern and increas- beled d represents the compression curve from a
ing pore pressures. The resulting landslides resem- loosest initial condition of the destructured soil,
ble Deere and Patton's Type d landslides, but in whereas the dashed curve e represents the com-
these cases the fill acts as the overlying colluvium. pression curve for a destructured soil with an ini-
tial void ratio equal to that of the weakly bonded
2. SAPROLITE PROPERTIES specimen. The weakly bonded specimen experi-
ences no compression until it reaches the first
The stability of A and B horizon soils in Zone I yield poinFigure 19-4(b) provides a hypothe-
may be effectively assessed by traditional soil me- sized comparison of bond strength with interparti-
chanics analysis methods. The stability of Zone JIB cle stress. At the first yield point the bond strength
(PWR) and Zone III (unweathered rock) materials starts to drop because small interparticle strains
may be effectively assessed by rock mechanics weaken bonds, whereas at the second yield point
analysis methods. However, saprolite and transi- the bond stress equals the bond strength, and
tion materials fall in the continuum between soil bonds start breaking. The curves of reference void
mechanics and rock mechanics. Core stones make ratio e versus effective stress p in Figure 19-4 pro-
sampling difficult, and laboratory-sized specimens vide boundaries for classifying soil behavior.
sometimes provide poor estimates of mass strength When soils have p', e states that plot below the
and permeability. The soil behavior described ir loosest destructured curve (labeled d), they be-
this section refers primarily to saprolites but also have as stable soils. When they plot above that
applies to the soil matrix in transition soils. curve, they behave as metastable soils.
Saprolites are generally unsaturated, weakly Although this classification system does not
bonded, and heterogeneous soils with relict joint currently provide quantitative correlations with
systems. Mitchell and Sitar (1982) reviewed the shear strength, in the future it may provide a more
Residual Soils 513
ing cohesion intercepts. The cohesion values rep- a, pore-air pressure, u6, and pore-water pressure, u,L,,
resent an empirical fit to a curved envelope. and then measuring the deviator stress while shear-
The cohesion intercept often represents an ap- ing the specimens at a constant strain rate of 0.001
parent cohesion resulting from capillary suction in to 0.004 percent per minute. Fredlund increased
the soils. Fredlund (1987) ran staged triaxial tests the deviator stress until it reached a clear peak, un-
on unsaturated undisturbed saprolite specimens by loaded the sample, adjusted a and U,, while main-
setting constant values of total confining pressure, taming u., constant, and then sheared the specimen
again. Figure 19-7 shows the results for a multistage
test performed on a decomposed granite specimen
taken from a Hong Kong slope. The shear strength
can be described by the following equation:
/
- ----- CD
These test results suggest that c' equals 0.0. Both
of these descriptions show that the shear strength
Cu. I of unsaturated saprolites depends upon three stress
Compressive )
variables. Unfortunately, using this description in
stability calculations means that the in situ matrix
S
Cu. suction, (U,, - u), must be measured or predicted.
Field ( Dilatant ) Relict joints represent the final element influ-
encing the mass shear strength of saprolites.
Sandroni (1985) divided discontinuities into three
Pf P1' P classes according to their size. Relict structures rep-
Correct resent faults, joints, dikes, and lithological contacts
stress range that range in dimension from meters to tens of me-
ters. Macros rructures are visible to the naked eye
FIGURE 19-6
and range in size from centimeters to 1 to 2 m.
Comparison between stress paths for rain-induced slope
failure and for triaxial tests (Brand 1981). Isotropic macrostructures can be described as
REPRINTED FROM PROCEEDINGS OF THE 10TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SOIL MECHANICS monothonous, stained, veiny, mottled, or porous,
AND FOUNDATION ENGINEERING, STOCKHOLM, 15-19 JUNE 1981, VOLUME 3, 1981-1982, 3542 PP., 4 VOLS.,
A.A. BALKEMA, OLD POST ROAD, SROOKFIELD, VERMONT 05036 and anisotropic macrostructures can be described as
Residual Soils 515
FIGURE 19-7
Mohr circles and
0.. determination of 4
for decomposed
200 Hong Kong granite
Ui (Fredlund 1987).
0 REPRINTED WITH
cr
Ui PERMISSION OF JOHN WILEY
& SONS, LTD.
1000 i
Uj
Cr
U)
—800 C I
0
cr I
w 00 200 300
I
(u0 - u) (kPa)
I 33.40 (ASSUMED)
600
z S
Iii
(U-Uw) COHESION
F- NO
U) (kPa) (kPa)
x 400 I 34.5 53
4 2 137.9 86
Iii 3 241.3 113
U)
200
C I
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 400 1600
(a-U0) (kPa)
laminated, banded, schistose, lenticular, or folded. and below the measured values of 4), for sedimen-
Other macrostructures include remnants, cavities, tary soils. Decomposed phyllites had lower 4),. val-
and concretions. Finally, micros rructures range from ues than sedimentary soils of equal clay fraction,
microns to tens of millimeters and can be viewed and volcanic soils containing allophane and hal-
only by either a hand lens or a microscope. loysite had higher 4), values.
All three discontinuity types can significantly
reduce the mass shear strength below values mea- 3. PORE PRESSURES
sured in small-sized laboratory specimens. St. John
et al. (1969) described the thin black seams often Rainfall frequently triggers landslides in residual
found in residual soils derived from igneous and soils. Figure 19-8 shows how rainfall infiltration can
metamorphic rocks. The undrained shear strength increase positive pore pressures by raising either a
measured on 10-cm-diameter specimens of sapro- perched or a regional water table. Townsend
lite overlying gneiss with black seams oriented at (1985) reported that for some naturally occurring
45 degrees was 50 to 67 percent of the undrained residual soils with field permeabilities of 10 to
"shear strength measured on intact specimens. 10 cm/sec, compaction decreased the permeabil-
These black seams had visible slickensides, sug- ity to 10 to 10 cm/sec. Brand (1985) added that
gesting previous displacements. Boyce (1985) ran naturally occurring highly transmissive zones, or
ring-shear tests on tropical residual soils to mea- pipes, in residual soils can make mass permeabili-
sure the limiting residual shear strength control- ties very high. Therefore pore pressures in residual
ling such slickensided surfaces. When he plotted soil slopes often react quickly to heavy rainfall.
4) values versus either clay fraction or plasticity Figure 19-9 shows that heavy rainfall for two days
index, he found that his results plotted both above raised the measured piezometric head in a Hong
516 Landslides: Investigation and Mitigation
DEGREE OF SATURATION soils and some of the similarities of the factors FIGURE 19-10
leading to slope instability in residual soils. Representation of
So Sf 1.0 advance of wetting
front as water
4.1 Brazil infiltrates soil
(Lumb 1975).
Vargas and Pichler (1957) described residual soil
and rock landslides occurring in Santos, Brazil.
They divided the landslides occurring in Brazil
into three classes:
MI
Class 1 landslides involve creep of surficial
residual soil,
Class 2 slides involve detritus (colluvium) at
Wetting front lower elevations in old slide areas, and
Class 3 slides involve sudden rupture of residual
soil overlying bedrock.
according to the Unified Soil Classification slides support Lumb's (1975) proposed hypothesis
System as low-plasticity silts and sandy silts (ML that landsliding is caused by the advance of a wet-
and SM-ML). ting front during intense and sustained rainfall.
Wolle and Hachich (1989) quantitatively eval-
uated translational landslides occurring in the same 4.2 Hong Kong
Serra do Mar region. The weathering profile typi-
cally had 1 to 1.5 rn of colluvial cover overlying 1 to Lumb (1975) examined slope failures in Hong Kong
2 m of saprolite that, in turn, overlaid migmatites. and correlated their occurrence with rainfall inten-
en fractures in the Zone hA transition material sity. He divided rainfall events into four categories:
made the mass permeability high, and the water
table occurred at depths of 20 to 30 m in the frac- Disastrous events causing more than 50 recorded
tured bedrock. Dense vegetative cover intercepted landslides in one day,
infiltration and prevented erosion. Observed land- Severe events causing 10 to 50 landslides in one
slides occurred on the 40- to 45-degree slopes and day,
were 7 to 25 rn wide, over 100 m long, and about Minor events causing fewer than 10 landslides,
1 m deep. The threshold precipitation in this re- and
gion equaled 180 mm/day when antecedent rain Isolated events causing only a single slip.
had moistened the soil. The relatively high perme-
abilities averaged 5 x 10 cm/sec, and during in- Figure 19-11 shows these rainfall events plotted as
tense rainfall the wetting front advanced 1.0 to 1.5 the 24-hr rainfall versus the 15-day antecedent
m into the soil profile in 4 to 12 hr. During the rainfall. Using rainfall data obtained from records
rainy season, soils had saturation values of 60 to 80 of the Royal Observatory, Lumb identified bounds
percent, whereas laboratory tests suggested that no between different levels of event severity. Disas-
suction occurred when saturations reached 92 to 95 trous events occurred when the 24-hr rainfall ex-
percent. Calculations showed that the slopes failed ceeded 100 mm and the 15-day antecedent
when rainfall infiltration decreased suctions at a rainfall exceeded 350 mm. Severe events were
1-rn depth to values ranging from 1 to 2 kPa. Mea- triggered by rainfall of 100 mm/day following 200
surements during the rainy season suggested suc- mm of antecedent rainfall.
tions of 1 to 10 kPa. Wolle and Hachich also Lumb (1975) divided the Hong Kong landslides
FIGURE 19-11
Relationship
estimated the influence of root strength on stability into three types. All three types are landslides that
between rainfall and and concluded that the sliding soil must reach a are generally less than 3 m deep and have a thick-
landslides in Hong width of at least 6 to 15 m before overcoming root ness-to-length ratio of less than 0.15. Type 1 land-
Kong (Lumb 1975). reinforcement. In general, it seems that these land- slides represent fill embankments constructed over
residual soil; these move following heavy rainfall.
400 Type 2 landslides occur in natural residual soil or
0 colluvium, extend to or beyond the crest of the
MINOR SEVERE DISASTER slope, and fail following heavy rainfall. The Type 2
failures generally occur in decomposed volcanics
300
0 but move more slowly than the Type 1 saturated
0
fills. Type 3 landslides occur within a cut face, do
w
I-
o not extend beyond the crest of the slope, and often
200 -<
—Jr
o ol occur in areas of decomposed granite. Type 3 fail-
00
0 ures occasionally occur during dry periods when
1 000 1 some other water source saturates the decomposed
100
CP I 0 granite. Type 3 failures are smaller and much less
0 00
8 MINOR destructive than either the Type 1 or Type 2 land-
0 o 8§ slides. Lumb (1975) also described two much
ISOLATED deeper landslides that differ from his three primary
I I I I
100 200 300 400 500 600 types. These last two moved more slowly and in-
volved seepage patterns much more complex than
15 - DAY RAINFALL (mm) simple vertical rainfall infiltration.
Residual Soils -31
Brand (1985) further examined the landslide
>.
risk in Hong Kong using three distinct methods. Total no. casualties
40
He first reexamined the earlier correlations by
Ui
Lumb (1975) using data collected from 46 auto- a.
CO
matic recording rain gauges distributed through- w 30
Out Hong Kong and considered 1-hr rainfalls, -J
Co
24-hr rainfalls, and antecedent rainfall for periods
20 No. landslides
varying up to 30 days. In addition, he identified causrig casualties
the precise time of landslide events by using the
Fire Services Department reports of calls. Figure 10
19-12 shows average landslides per day and aver- Ui
>
age casualties per day plotted versus maximum
hourly rainfall. This plot shows a clear threshold n An Rn
DEGREE OF
and laboratory tests on undisturbed specimens.
VOWS RATIO GRADING
SATURATION Because the volcanics have a closer joint spacing,
0_05 1.0 1-5 0 0-5 1-0 0 25 50 75 100% their average field-measured permeability was
1.5 X 10 cm/sec, some two orders of magnitude
ITS
S - S - - greater than the average permeability value for
these volcanic materials measured in the labora-
E SILT tory, which was 2.0 X 10 6 cm/sec.
10- 10- S
10- Brand (1985) analyzed six specific landslides
a-
w SAND - for which field investigations determined the ex-
isting slope geometry and underlying soil profiles
and laboratory testing determined the shear
strength. Three cases (numbered 1 to 3) involved
20- 20- 20 — - slopes that had not failed, but their calculated fac-
tors of safety ranged from 0.80 to 0.95. Three ad-
I I I I I I ditional cases (numbered 4 to 6) involved slopes
that had failed, but their calculated factors of
DECOMPOSED GRANITE safety ranged from 1.24 to 1.30. In the first three
cases, Brand concluded that either the acting
DEGREE OF strengths or the suctions were larger than those
rS
VIDS RATIO SATURATION GRADING
used in the stability analyses. In Case 4 the actual
0 &5 1.0 I-S 0 0-6 1-0 0 25 50 75 1001,
weathered soil depth was greater than expected
from the preliminary borings. In Case 5 sliding oc-
AYI
curred along slickensided relict joints, and in Case
6 subvertical relict joints encouraged vertical
LT
seepage and influenced the observed failure mode.
10 Therefore, in all these cases, the exploration ei-
w
C)
ther did not correctly determine the soil weather-
15- 15- ing profile or did not accurately identify soil
strength properties or groundwater conditions.
20- 20-
4.3 North Carolina
I I I
The North Carolina Department of Transporta-
tion has experienced recurring landslides at their
DECOMPOSED VOLCANICS highway cuts. In 1987 and 1988 two landslides
were investigated to better define the failure
mode, the acting shear strength, and the pore
FIGURE 19-14 top few meters of soil show any clay fraction, and pressures at the point of slope failure for use in fu-
Bulk properties of the soils are classified as silty sands. The volcanics ture designs (Lambe and Riad 1991). These two
Hong Kong residual have closer joint spacings of 0.2 to 1 m and typi- landslides, known as the Balsam Gap landslide
soils (Lumb 1975). cally weather to depths of 10 m, rarely more than and the Boone landslide, were both slow-moving
20 m. These soils are classified as sandy silts and and required no immediate repair. Both landslides
have slightly higher void ratios. Colluvium covers moved along shear surfaces just below the collu-
the residual soils on the lower slopes. Colluvium vium-saprolite interface. Piezometers installed at
overlying decomposed granites has a similar tex- both sites measured zero or negative pore pressures
ture to the residual soils, whereas the colluvium acting on the shear surfaces.
overlying the volcanics has more rounded cobbles Figure 19-15 shows a plan view of the Balsam
and small core stones than the underlying residual Gap landslide and locates the borings made to take
soils. Lumb (1975) measured an average coeffi- samples and install instrumentation. This
cient of permeability of 8.0 x 10- cm/sec in 1.75(H):1(V) slope had been excavated north of
decomposed granites by both field in situ tests US 23/74. The slope started moving in 1980 and
Residual Soils 521
N 0 PIEZOMETER
SLOPE INDICATOR
/
'SLIDE f I'MIT - ••.:•..
1969 SLIDE LIMJT__ ,
sj—a JEST
A i " si 7
/ .1..::::::::::::i:::.t:.............ACCESS ROAD
o 4080
FEET
involved a failure volume of 15 000 m3. Rainfall measured three envelopes of the type proposed by FIGURE 19-15
during the years from 1979 to 1988 averaged 1140 Skempton (1970). For the fully softened envelope, Plan view of Balsam
Gap landslide
mm/year, but only monthly rainfall data were avail- 4)' = 27 degrees and c' = 19 kPa. Analyzing non- (Lambe and Riad
able from nearby rainfall recording stations. Figure circular failure surfaces, such as the one shown in 1991).
19-16 shows the cross section and soil profile that Figure 19-16, resulted in the resistance envelopes in REPRINTED WITH
PERMISSIONOF
were determined from borings and a test pit. The Figure 19-18. A resistance envelope portrays the AMERICAN SOCIETY OF
CIVIL ENGINEERS
test pit was excavated to examine the 5-mm-thick average shear stress and average effective normal
slickensided shear surface located just below the stress acting along a family of failure surfaces for an
colluvium cover. The interface between the sapro- assumed pore-pressure distribution (Casagrande
lite's rocklike structure and the colluvium's thor- 1950). Lacking any measured pore pressures during
oughly mixed appearance was readily identified. heavy rainfall, resistance envelopes were calculated
The residual soil overlaid coarse granitic gneiss for three different pore-pressure levels:
bedrock. Figure 19-17 shows the soil profile based
r = 0.0 was used to establish a 'lower bound,
upon the Standard Penetration Test profile in
= 0.25 was used to provide information on
Boring 4 and tests on tube samples taken from
"average" conditions, and
Borings 5 and 6. The colluvium was classified as a
r = 0.5 was used to establish an upper bound.
sandy clay (CL-ML), and the saprolite was classi-
fied as a silty sand (SM). Falling-head permeability These back analyses suggest that the failures may
tests performed on trimmed consolidation speci- be explained by r = 0.32, with fully softened shear
mens measured an average permeability of 3 X 10 strength acting along the failure surface shown in
cm/sec for the saprolite and a permeability of 2 X Figure 19-16 and with an average effective normal
10_ 7 cm/sec for the colluvium. Therefore, the col- stress along the failure surface of 48 kPa.
luvium acted as a low-permeability cap over the The weathering profile of the Boone landslide
saprolite. Drained direct-shear tests on the saprolite differed from the profile at Balsam Gap because a
FIGURE 19-16 1150 1150
Cross section of
Balsam Gap BALSAM GAP II LANDSLIDE
landslide (Lambe
and Riad 1991).
ST 50+00 —
— II —
REPRINTED WITH
PERMISSION OF 1100 ..... . ................................................................................................. —
-..
1100
55
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF .'
CIVIL ENGINEERS
c'i S.S _,.
4..
— CLI
C.) . Test Pit —
s
S..
FIGURE 19-17
(below) 950 950
300 200 100 U
Data from Balsam
Gap landslide
DISTANCE FROM , ft.
boring SI-4 (Lambe
and Riad 1991).
REPRINTED WITH
PERMISSION OF
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF
CIVIL ENGINEERS
SPT, blow/ft Grain Size, % Water Content, %
0 50 0 50 100 0 50
0
Red U PL LL
Clayey Silt U
10 E.
(Coil uv I urn: 112 U
Slip Surf ac •
113 •
14Z 20
Brown )
U
Silty Sand -c
4-a
a •
(Saprolite) 0
Wn
30
Rock
40J__J 40
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