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CHARLES,J. A. & SOARES,M. M. (1984). G&technique 34, No.

1, 61-70

Stability of compacted rockfill slopes

J. A. CHARLES* and M. M. SOARESt

The Mohr failure envelopes for compacted rockfills techniques have been adopted for the construc-
exhibit significant curvature particularly at low and tion of rockfill embankments. The use of mod-
medium stresses. A computer program for circular arc ern heavy earth-moving machinery has led to
slope stability analysis has been modified to accept rockfill being placed in comparatively thin layers
these non-linear failure envelopes. A dimensionless
(0.5-2m deep) and compacted with heavy vib-
stability number has been introduced to facilitate the
rating rollers. This method results in very dense
production of charts for the rapid assessment of rock-
fill slope stability. The effect of submergence on the
well graded rockfills with strength and deforma-
stability of compacted rockfill slopes has been ex- tion properties greatly superior to those of the
amined. uncompacted, uniform sized rockfills previously
used. However, as De Mello (1977) has pointed
out, modern rockfill embankments are usually
Les courbes intrinseques des remblais rocheux
compact& montrent une courbure signifiantesurtout a built with much flatter slopes than the earlier
basses et moyennes contraintes. Un programme d’or- structures.
dinateur pour l’analyse de la stabilite des pentes en arc It would seem that some modern rockfill
de cercle a CtC modifie pour prendre encompte ces structures may have slopes with high factors of
courbes intrinseques non-linearies. Un parameter de safety and do not fully utilize the shear strength
securite au renversement, sans dimensions a CtC intro- properties of the fill. A quite small value for the
duit pour faciliter la production d’abaques pour factor of safety obtained in a stability analysis
l’evaluation rapide de la stabilitt des pentes de rem-
(say, F = 1.4) may have been based on conserva-
blais rocheux. L’effet de la submersion sur la stabilit&
tive assumptions about the shear strength of the
des pentes de remblais rocheux compact&s a BtC
ttudiC. compacted rockfill (say, angle of shearing resis-
tance, 4’ = 40”). The development of large scale
testing facilities has made it possible to deter-
INTRODUCTION
mine with reasonable accuracy the shear
Fill materials used in embankment construction strength parameters of compacted rockfills
are generally described as either earthfill or (Marsal, 1973; Marachi, Chan & Seed, 1972;
rockfill. This distinction is important in geotech- Charles & Watts, 1980). It has been found that
nical design because rockfill generally has shear the Mohr failure envelopes for compacted rock-
strength and deformation properties much fills show pronounced curvature particularly at
superior to those of earthfill and, furthermore, low stresses. This has formed an obstacle to the
its high permeability should ensure that pore use of realistic shear strength parameters in
pressures do not develop during embankment stability calculations as computer analyses have
construction. The economic design of rockfill been based on linear Mohr failure envelopes.
slopes should make full use of these superior Recently, however, stability analyses have been
properties. carried out for materials with curved failure
Rockfill dams were built in California in the envelopes (Maksimovik, 1979; Costa Filho,
second half of the nineteenth century with Froes & Romanel, 1982: Charles, 1982).
slopes as steep as 1 vertical in 0.5 horizontal It is now feasible both to measure the shear
(Galloway, 1939). Embankments up to 30 m in strength parameters of a compacted rockfill and
height were built of rockfill dumped loosely in to use these realistic parameters in slope stabil-
position. The construction of slopes steeper than ity analyses. A computer program which carries
the angle of repose of the loose rockfill (which is out both the Fellenius and the semi-rigorous
typically about 1 in 1.3) was achieved by hand Bishop (1955) circular arc stability analyses has
placement of stone to form a rubble retaining been modified to accept non-linear failure en-
wall. In recent years different construction velopes. A dimensionless stability number has
been used in conjunction with the non-linear
Discussion on this Paper closes on 1 July 1984. For
failure envelopes (Charles, 1982) to facilitate
further details see inside back cover.
Crown copyright. the production of charts for the rapid assessment
* Building Research Establishment. of rockfill slope stability. These stability analyses
+ Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. give an indication of the slopes required to
61

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62 CHARLES AND SOARES

achieve adequate factors of safety in rockfill resentative of the range of materials that would
embankments of different heights. be considered good rocktills in most civil en-
gineering applications.
SHEAR STRENGTH OF COMPACTED The applicability of shear strength parameters
ROCKFm derived from drained triaxial compression tests
The shear strength of compacted rockfill has to stability analyses of rockfill structures might
usually been measured by carrying out drained be questioned on several grounds.
triaxial compression tests on the fill. It has been
customary to express the shear strength meas- Size of rockfill particles
ured in a test at a particular confining pressure The maximum particle size used in the BRE
in terms of the angle of shearing resistance triaxial tests was 38 mm, whereas rockfill em-
bankments may contain rock fragments with a
(Ul’lU31)f- 1
4’ = sin-’
[ (Ul’lU3’)f+ 1 I (1) dimension of a metre or more. Charles & Watts
(1980) have reviewed the data concerning the
relationship between shear strength and max-
where (a1’/u3’)r is the maximum principal stress
imum particle size and have concluded that it is
ratio in the test. It is generally found that when
a relatively minor effect, providing that the
a series of tests is carried out on a particular
scaled material is still behaving as a free drain-
rocktill over a range of confining pressures,
ing granular fill.
there is a marked decrease in the measured
value of 4’ with increasing confining pressure Density of rockfill
u3’. De Mello (1977) suggested that the curved
At low confining pressures the initial density
failure envelope could be described by a rela-
of the triaxial sample has a major effect on the
tionship of the form
shearing resistance of the rocktill. For the meas-
or = Am (2) ured laboratory shear strength parameters to be
applicable to the field situation it is essential that
where 7r and u’ are the shear strength and tests are carried out on samples compacted to an
effective normal stress respectively on the failure appropriate density. Penman & Charles (1976)
surface in the compacted rockfill. have listed the densities achieved by heavy vib-
An investigation has been carried out at the rating rollers at several major rockfill dams re-
Building Research Establishment (BRE) to cently completed in the United Kingdom. The
measure the influence of confining pressure on laboratory compaction has been designed to
the angle of shearing resistance of a number of achieve comparable densities.
well graded and heavily compacted rockfills at
low and medium confining pressures (Charles & Stress conditions
Watts, 1980). Drained triaxial compression tests Most field situations correspond to plane
have been carried out on 230 mm dia. samples strain rather than the stress conditions obtaining
with a maximum particle size of 38 mm. Table 1 in the triaxial test. Plane strain laboratory tests
lists the values of the parameters A and b (Marsal, 1973) have always shown greater shear
measured for four rockfills at normal effective strengths than the corresponding triaxial tests.
stresses up to 400 kN/m’. (It should be noted The use of triaxial test parameters is therefore
that whereas the parameter b is independent of conservative and may offset any small over-esti-
the units used for stress the parameter A has mate of strength due to scale or density effects.
dimensions [u]“-~’ .) The poor quality slate
might have been rejected as unsuitable for rock- Magnitude of stress
fill material in many civil engineering works. When triaxial tests are carried out to derive
The other three rockfills were reasonably rep- shear strength parameters for a stability analysis,
it is important that appropriate values of cell
Table 1. Shear strength parameters for pressure are used. The stresses in the triaxial
heavily compacted rockfW where TV= test should correspond to the range of stress
Am and 7‘ and v’ are in kN/d which will be encountered on potential critical
failure surfaces in the embankment slopes.
Rock type A b
CIRCULAR ARC STABILITY ANALYSIS
Sandstone 6.8 0.67 Some early work on the analysis of slope sta-
Slate (good quality) 5.3 0.75
Slate (poor quality) 3.0 0.77
bility by the method of slices was carried out by
Basalt 4.4 0.81 Fellenius (1936) and Taylor (1937, 1948).
Bishop (1955) developed the method further

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STABILITY OF COMPACTED ROCKFILL SLOPES 63

Fig. 1. Circular arc stability analysis for rock6U slope

and examined the effect on the computed factor base. From the equilibrium of the slice
of safety of various simplifying assumptions
P=(W+X,-X,+,)C~S~!-(E,-~+~)~~~(Y
about the forces between the slices. Fig. 1 illus-
trates a rockfill slope at an angle S to the (7)
horizontal. The equilibrium of a mass of rockfill The simplest procedure that can be adopted is to
of unit thickness bounded by a circular arc ignore the interslice forces and assume that
ABCD of radius R and centre 0 has been
examined using the method of slices for the case P= Wcosa (8)
where the mobilized shear stress in the rockfill This is usually described as the Fellenius
along the slip surface is method. Substituting equations (6) and (8) in
equation (5) for the factor of safety in the Fel-
lenius analysis

FF= c w’,in a! c [A(W cos a! - ~l)~l”-*‘] (9)


where F is the factor of safety against shear
failure. The shear force S acting on the base of
the slice BCFG is equal to ~1 where 1 is the Bishop (1955) proposed a more rigorous
length of the base BC of the slice. The disturb- analysis in which interslice forces were not ig-
ing moment of the weight of the rocktill within nored. In his semi-rigorous analysis Bishop as-
ABCD must be balanced by the external forces sumed that the resultant of the interslice forces
acting on the sliding surface and so we obtain acted horizontally. If we consider the equilib-
rium of forces in the vertical direction we then
c Wx = c r1R (4) obtain
Combining equations (3) and (4) Pcosoli-Ssinff = W (10)
Therefore
c Wx = c $ (u')~~R
(u’+u)lcoscu+TIsina=W (11)
The normal effective stress acting on the base of
the slice

P W
ub-u_~A(a’)b
(+‘=--_u
1 cos a
(12)
1
where u is the porewater pressure at the slice Consequently in this Bishop semi-rigorous

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64 CHARLES AND SOARES

analysis, the factor of safety same and will be independent of the height of
the slope. This will apply to the critical circular
1
Fu= slip surface for which a minimum value of the
1 Wsina factor of safety has been obtained. It is possible

IIb
therefore to calculate values of Fp for the critical
(13) slip surfaces of slopes at various angles f3 to the
horizontal. The factor of safety can then be
The difficulty with equations (12) and (13) is calculated from
that both F and cr’ need to be calculated itera-
tively. In the computer analysis initial values for (17)
both F (the overall factor of safety) and (T’ (the
normal effective stress at the base of each slice) Similarly, from the semi-rigorous Bishop anal-
were calculated using the Fellenius method. The yses a dimensionless stability number can be
second value of u’ for each slice was calculated calculated such that
using equation (12) and these new values of (T’
were then used in equation (13) to produce the FB(YH)~‘-~’
=r
second value of F. This procedure was then B (18)
A
repeated and it was considered that sufficient
iterations had been carried out when the differ- FB is also the same for geometrically similar slip
ence between two consecutive determinations of surfaces in geometrically similar slopes of the
the factor of safety was smaller than 0.002. same uniform rockfill (Appendix 1).
Difficulties with this method were encountered Using the computer program, stability num-
with very steep slopes (cot f3 (0.5) and high bers have been calculated for the critical slip
values of the shear strength parameter b (b > surfaces of uniform rockfill slopes in which
0.75). In this situation the critical failure surface there are no porewater pressures and which are
was very shallow and very steep and there were built on strong rock foundations. Although the
problems with the iterative process for calculat- shear strength parameter b is likely to be of the
ing the normal stresses at the base of the slices. order of 0.75 for compacted rockfill, a range of b
values (0.5 <b s 1) has been analysed. In most
STABILITY CHARTS FOR ROCKFILL SLOPES cases the difference between FF and rB was
small. This is illustrated in Fig. 2 where F calcu-
The high permeability of rockfill ensures that lated by both methods of analysis has been
in many rockfill slopes there are no pore pres- plotted against cot f3 for a rockfill slope with the
sures. If we put u = 0 in the expression for the shear strength parameter b = 0.75. For values of
factor of safety in the Fellenius stability analysis, cot f3 greater than 0.5, the Bishop analysis gave
equation (9) then becomes values 5-10% greater than those calculated by
the Fellenius method. However, in the range
FF= (14) 0 s cot /3~0.5, the Fellenius method provided
credible answers whereas the Bishop analysis
The weight of the slice W is -yht where y is the did not. It would appear that with very steep
bulk density of the rockfill, h is the height of the slopes and shallow critical failure surfaces the
slice and t is the width of the slice (t = 1cos CK). iterative procedure used to calculate the normal
If the slices are all of the same width then stress in the Bishop method was no longer well
conditioned. The results of an analysis based on
F = A 1 [h” codzb-‘)a] a plane failure surface passing through the toe of
(15) the slope (and ignoring interslice forces as in the
F Pb’ 1 h sin LY
Fellenius circular arc method) has also been
For a slope of height H, equation (15) can be plotted in Fig. 2. This shows a similar trend to
rearranged as follows the Fellenius circular arc analysis but always
gives higher values of r.
F&H)“-” = 1 (h/H)b COS(~~~‘)~X In Fig. 3 the stability numbers rr; and rB
(16) calculated from the Fellenius and Bishop stabil-
A 1 (h/H) sin (Y
ity analyses respectively have been plotted
The dimensionless right hand side of equation against cotf3 for 0.5~cotf3~2~0 and 0.5<bs
(16) is designated the stability number rr. For 1.0. For each value of b the relationship be-
geometrically similar slopes of different height tween r and cot f3 is almost linear. However,
built of the same uniform rockfill and with no Fig. 2 has shown that there is marked curvature
excess pore pressures, the value of rF will be the at values of cot f3 smaller than 0.5 (i.e. with very

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STABILITY OF COMPACTED ROCKFILL SLOPES 65

/
/
I I
0 0.5 1.0 1.5
cot p
Fig. 2. Stabfifty analysis of rod&U slope (b= 0.75). a=Felleniw
circular arc, b = Bishop cfrcdar arc, c = plane failure surface passing
tbrougb toe

6.5 1 15
cot p

Fig. 3. Stability numbers hm cfrcular arc analyses

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66 CHARLES AND SOARFS

1
0.7 0.6 0.9 1.0
b
Ffg. 4. LQcation of centres of aitfcal circllfar slip surfaces in
Ft&nfus analysis

steep slopes). When b = 1, rr = Aa’ (this corres- methods of analysis may be appreciated. From
ponds to a constant angle of shearing resistance) equations (17) and (18) it is seen that differences
and IF = Is = cot f3. The positions of the centres in stability number from the two analyses will be
of the critical failure surfaces have been plotted reflected in similar differences in factor of safety.
for the Feller&s analysis in Fig. 4 and for the The differences shown in Fig. 3 are similar to
Bishop analysis in Fig. 5. With X/H positive, the those found when the two methods of stability
critical surface is a circle that is tangential to the analysis are used in a more conventional way for
base of the slope. In this situation the ratio of soils with linear failure envelopes forming some-
the radius of the critical circle to the height of what flatter slopes. This gives some indication
the slope R/H = Y/H. When X/H is negative the that the Bishop analysis continues to operate
critical circle passes through the toe of the slope satisfactorily for the steep slopes considered in
and R/H = d[(X/H)2+ (Y/H)*]. As the value of Fig. 3. To confirm this, further analysis was
b decreases from one to 0.5, the radius of the carried out for a rockfill with a failure envelope
critical slip surface also decreases, i.e. the critical exhibiting very marked curvature (b = 0.5) and a
surface goes deeper. very steep slope (cot f3 =0.5). In the semi-
Both IF and Is have been plotted in Fig. 3 so rigorous Bishop analysis used in this Paper, it is
that the differences resulting from the two assumed that the resultant of the interslice

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STABILITY OF COMPACTED ROCKFILL SLOPES 67

II
05 0.6 07 0.8 0.9 10
b
Fig. 5. Location of centres of critical circular slip surfaces in
B&op analysis

forces acts horizontally. The effect on the com- ity failure will change. If the slope is protected
puted value of lYB (and hence FB) of introducing by an impermeable membrane water will not be
trial values of the vertical shear force (X, - able to penetrate into the rockfill. In this situa-
X,,,,) was examined. Even for this extreme situ- tion submergence of the slope will increase the
ation of a steep slope and marked curvature of factor of safety against stability failure. In the
the failure envelope, the value of l?, was in- more important case where there is no im-
creased only by about 4-5% as the interslice permeable membrane on the slope, the water
forces were varied. This is quite similar to what will penetrate and submerge the rockfill itself.
has been found for flatter slopes in more con- The effect of submergence on the stability of the
ventional applications of the Bishop analysis. It slope is more complicated in this situation. If the
can be concluded that the Bishop analysis is stability number rB has been determined for a
sufficiently accurate over the range of values of b slope in a uniform rockfill from the stability
and fl shown in Fig. 3. The values of rB rather chart shown in Fig. 3, this will make it possible
than rF should be used in design as the Bishop to calculate the factor of safety for both the dry
analysis is more rigorous than the Fellenius slope prior to submergence and the totally sub-
analysis. merged slope. (The term dry slope is used to
denote a slope that is not submerged; the rock-
STABILlTY OF SUBMERGED ROCKFILL fill within the slope may of course have a quite
SLOPES high moisture content.) In the former case the
When a rockfill slope is submerged by a rising bulk density of the rockfill ybulLmust be used
reservoir level, the factor of safety against stabil- in equation (18), and in the latter case the

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CHARLES AND SOARES

r H =50m

Fig. 6. E&z& of submergence on rocklill slopes (A=5, b=W75, ybdk/y’ = 2, H = 50 m)


1 7

submerged density y’. the compacted rockfill (Charles & Watts, 1980).
The use of this type of test has been justified in
F
-=Bsub -Ybulk (ImbJ an earlier section of the Paper. It is important
F Bdry ( Y’ ) that tests are carried out on samples compacted
to a dry density and at a moisture content
In general yh,,Jy
__... will be slightly smaller than 2. similar to that which will be obtained in the
If Gbu,,J$ = 2 and b = 0.75 then FB,,,/FBd, =
field. Modern heavy vibrating rollers can achieve
1.19. (This simDle analvsis assumes that the
very high field densities. It is also important to
shear strength parameters A and b are not
carry out the tests at appropriate confining pres-
affected by submergence.)
sures. Fig. 7 shows a,‘/yH (where u,’ is the
Although the factor of safety of the fully
maximum normal stress on the critical failure
submerged slope will thus be slightly greater
surface) plotted against cot 0. From this graph a
than that of the dry slope, partial submergence
preliminary estimate can be made of the range
can reduce the factor of safety. A minimum
of normal stress which will be of interest in a
factor of safety is generally obtained when the
particular situation. For example, with b =0.75
submerged depth is about 30% of the height of
and cot @ = 1.5, a,‘/yH=0.31 and if y=
the rocklill slope. Fig. 6 shows the effect of a
22 kN/m3 and H = 50 m, then urn’= 341 kN/m’.
rising water level on 50 m high rockfill slopes
Triaxial tests at confining pressures of 30 kN/m’,
with cot /3= 1 and 2 respectively and with typi-
100 kN/m’ and 300 kN/m’ respectively would
cal shear strength and density parameters. The
be appropriate in this situation. When the Mohr
reduction in factor of safety due to partial sub-
circles have been plotted for the tests, the failure
mergence is greater with flatter slopes. With
envelope can be drawn. Generally this failure
cot p = 2, the minimum factor of safety as the
envelope can be described with sufficient accu-
water level rises is almost 10% smaller than the
racy by equation (2), TV= Am. It is readily
factor of safety for the dry slope.
seen therefore that,
DESIGN OF ROCKFILL SLOPES
logT,=blogo’+logA (20)
The following procedure is suggested for the
design of a slope to be built of compacted Consequently if the failure envelope is replotted
rockfill to a particular height. It is assumed that on log-log graph paper, a straight line should be
the rockfill is to be placed on a strong rock obtained with a gradient equal to b. The
formation, that it is sufficiently permeable to parameter A can also readily be obtained from
prevent pore pressures being set up and that it this plot.
will not be submerged.
Selection of an appropriate factor of safety
Determination of the rockfill shear strength In the design of slopes for embankment dams,
parameters A and b values of F as low as 1.4 are sometimes quoted.
These can be obtained from large scale However, these factors of safety have usually
drained triaxial compression tests on samples of been calculated using conservative values for the

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STABILITY OF COMPACTED ROCKFILL SLOPES 69

I , I I
Oo.5 1 1.5 2
cot @

Fig. 7. M9 * nonnd effective slress on aiticd slip surface

shear strength parameters of rockfills. In the is free draining and will not be submerged. A
present design method more realistic values of factor of safety of 1.8 is required in both cases.
rockfill shear strength parameters are being The bulk density of the rockfill is 22 kN/m’.
adopted and therefore higher values of F may Example I. 100m high embankment
be appropriate. The very high shear strength of
r = E(YIVb) 18(22x 1oo)“~25
compacted rockfill at low stresses is very brittle = 2.47
with a large reduction in strength rapidly occur- A = 5.0
ring once the peak strength has been realized.
from Fig. 3, cot I3 = 1.32
Furthermore the peak strength will not be
Example 2. 10 m high embankment
achieved simultaneously at all points on a poten-
tial failure surface. The value of F selected in a r = F(yH)(l--b) 1.8(22x 10)0’25 = 1,39
particular case will involve engineering judge- A = 5.0
ment and should depend on the importance of
the rockfill structure and the confidence with from Fig. 3, cot 0 =0.52
which the shear strength parameters have been Example 1 illustrates how even a very
determined. high rockfill embankment can be safely built
with slopes almost as steep as the angle of
Calculation of the magnitude of the stability repose of loose uncompacted rocktill in certain
number circumstances. Obviously, the presence of a wet
Now that the shear strength parameters A clay core in a rockfill dam and the submergence
and b have been determined and a factor of of the upstream slope would necessitate the use
safety has been selected, the stability number of flatter slopes. Example 2 illustrates how small
can be calculated using equation (18), I= embankments of compacted rockfill might be
F($I)(‘~h’/A. safely built with slopes steeper than the angle of
repose of the loose rockfill. Clearly in this latter
Determination of the slope angle /3 situation it would be necessary to contain and
With the value of I calculated, the slope cot /3 protect the surface of the slope.
can be readily ascertained from Fig. 3 using the
stability numbers from the Bishop analysis. CONCLUSIONS
The use of this design method and the stabil- Rational analysis of the stability of slopes of
ity charts will now be illustrated by two worked compacted rockfill requires the use of realistic
examples. Example 1 concerns the slopes for a shear strength parameters based on the curved
100m high embankment and example 2 the failure envelopes invariably found for com-
slopes for a 10 m high embankment. Tests on pacted rockfills at low and medium stresses. A
samples of compacted rockfill have shown that simple relationship of the form rr = Am can
the relationship, rr = 5(a’)“‘75 can adequately in general adequately describe the failure en-
represent the shear strength behaviour of the velope, and the parameters A and b can be
rockfill in the stress range appropriate to both determined from a series of drained triaxial
embankments. In each case the embankment is compression tests carried out on the compacted
to be built on a firm rock foundation; the rockfill rockfill at appropriate confining pressures. The

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70 CHARLES AND SOAREZS

use of a non-dimensional stability number, I’= Assuming slices of uniform width t = 1cosa,
F(yH)(leb’/A, has made it possible to produce
charts for the rapid assessment of the stability of
rockfill slopes. The stability number also indi-
cates how the factor of safety is related to the
height of the slope; for geometrically similar
slopes in the same uniform rockfill the factor of
The procedure of calculating new values of normal
safety, F a l/H’lmb’. Total submergence of a
stress and factor of safety can be repeated using
slope will typically increase the factor of safety
equations (23) and (26) (replacing (TV’, F,, (TV’, F, by
by nearly 20%. Partial submergence can, how- a,‘, F,,, UC-~, F,-, respectively) until the difference
ever, reduce the factor of safety with a minimum between successively determined values of factor of
value occurring with the water level at a height safety reduces to an acceptable small value. Equation
of about 30% of the total slope height. The (27) for the Bishop analysis should be compared with
reduction is greater with flatter slopes and can the comparable equation (16) for the Fellenius
be 10% for a slope with cot @ = 2. analysis.

ACKNOWLEDGEh4ENT REFERENCES
The work described formed part of the re- Bishop, A. W. (1955). The use of the slip circle in the
search programme of the Building Research Es- stability analysis of slopes. G6otechnique 5, No. 1,
tablishment and the paper is published by per- 7-17.
mission of the Director of the Building Research Charles, J. A. (1982). An appraisal of the influence of
Establishment. The second Author gratefully a curved failure enveIope on slope stability.
acknowledges the support of the National Re- Gtotechnique 32, No. 4, 389-392.
Charles, J. A. & Watts, K. S. (1980). The influence of
search Council of Brazil (CNPq) during his
confining pressure on the shear strength of com-
studies in Britain.
pacted rockfill. Giotechnique 30, No. 4, 353-367.
Costa Filho, L. M., Froes, A. S. & Romanel, C.
APPENDIX 1 (1982). Analise de estabilidade de taludes em solos
Derivation of stability number in Bishop semi- corn envoltoria de resistencia nao-linear. Proc. 3rd
rigorous stability analysis for rockfill slopes with no Latin American Conf. Numer. Meth. Engng,
pore pressures. Buenos Aires.
The first stage of the analysis is to calculate values Fellenius, W. (1936). Calculation of the stability of
of F and u’ based on the Fellenius assumption about earth dams. Proc. 2nd Congr. Large Dams,
inter-slice forces. These are denoted F, and u;, and Washington 4, 445-462.
the corresponding stability number is rl. Galloway, J. D. (1939). The design of rockfill dams.
From equation (17) Trans. Am. Sot. Civ. Engrs 104,l-24.
Maksimovik, M. (1979). Limit equilibrium for non-
A
F,=r,p linear failure envelope and arbitrary slip surface.
(yH)(‘--b’ Proc. 3rd Int. Conf. Numer. Meth. Geomech.,
Aachen 2, 769-777.
From equations (6) and (8) Marachi, N. D., Chan, C. K. & Seed, H. B. (1972).
a,‘=WcQsolll=yhcos*a (22) Evaluation of properties of rockfill materials. J.
Soil Me&. Fdns Div. Am. Sot. Civ. Engrs 98,
From equation (12) we obtain a second value of o’ SM 1, 95-114.
Marsal, R. J. (1973). Mechanical properties of rockfill.
W Embankment darn engineering; Casagrande vol-
a;=_ -+ (o;)b
1 cosa I ume, pp. 109-200. New York: Wiley.
De Mello, V. F. B. (1977). Reflections on design
Dividing both sides of the equation (23) by yH decisions of practical significance to embankment
dams. 17th Rankine lecture. Giotechnique 27, No.
cz’ _ h u1 ’ btana
3, 281-354.
YH H YH
6> - rl Penman, A. D. M. & Charles, J. A. (1976). The
Substituting (T,’ from equation (22) into equation (24), quality and suitability of rockfill used in dam
construction. Proc. 12th Int. Congr. Large Dams 1,
u2’
_=__
h _
h b COS(~~-”01sin 01 533-556.
(25) Taylor, D. W. (1937). Stability of earth slopes. J.
yH H 0H r1
Boston Sot. Civ. Engrs 24, No. 3, 197-246.
From equation (13) Taylor, D. W. (1948). Fundamentals of soil mechanics.
New York: Wiley.
F2 = T (wJb]l’ (26) Terzaghi, K. & Peck, R. B. (1948). Soil mechanics in
engineering practice. New York: Wiley.

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