The Measurements of Water

Intrusion through Cracks

Propagation Inside Slopes to Explain
the Cause of Slope Failure—Case
Study of Embankment in the Sanggu-
Buntok Airport, Central Kalimantan,
Indonesia

Stephanus Alexsander
Lecturer of Mining and Civil Engineering, Universitas Palangka Raya, Palangka
Raya, Indonesia
stephanusalexsander@gmail.com

Indrasurya B. Mochtar
Professor of Civil Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya,
Indonesia
indramochtar.mochtar@gmail.com

Widya Utama
Lecturer of Geophysic Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember,
Surabaya, Indonesia
wu.explorer@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
This research was done at soil embankment as high as 9 meters behind a stone masonry wall, which
was located in Sanggu-Buntok airport, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Landslide had occurred in some
part of the embankment, where it was initiated by the breaking of the stone masonry wall. The
landslide movement was translational and it was thought to be triggered by heavy rain fall; yet, no
satisfactory explanation could be obtained about the connection between heavy rain and the slide. This
study was done after the landslide, using geo-electric measurement by means of tomographic
resistivity and induced polarization method. This method of measurement showed the existence of
water trapped inside the soil embankment and also showed the distribution of cracks in the soil. The
trapped water and the cracks could be indicated by the decrease of tomographic resistivity values and
increase induced polarization values. With this method, the trapped water was found until 10-meter
depth inside the slope. The existence of trapped of water and cracks distribution were then used as a
model for soil stratification inside the slope during the slope stability analysis. The result showed that
without the existence of the trapped water and cracks, the safety factor, SF, of embankment was found
to be quite satisfactory (SF =1.42); however, due to the formation of the trapped water and cracks, and
under heavy rain the cracks were all filled up with water, the safety factor of embankment became
merely 0.869. It was learned that rain water should have penetrated into the cracks in the soil and have

- 5347 -
 Vol. 22 [2017], Bund. 14 5348

caused considerable water pressure built up behind the stone masonry wall, so that the landslide
consequently followed.
KEYWORDS: slope failure; cracks in soil; geo-electric measurement; tomographic resistivity;
induced polarization; heavy rain fall hazard.

INTRODUCTION
Many researchers had observed that most of slope failures were triggered by rains of high to very
high intensities, which in general the rains were assumed to have caused drastic increase of pore
water pressures and seepage forces inside the slope during the rain. (Sidle et al.,1982; Terzaghi.,1950;
Nurly Gofar et al.,2008). However, those researchers did not explain how the drastic increase of water
pressure and seepage forces during such heavy rains could cause slope failure, when the slopes had
been stable so many years and had been subjected by similar heavy rains for so many years, too.
Besides, some slope failures still occurred during heavy rainfall, despite of the calculation of the
slopes safety indicated that the slopes were in still in very stable condition, even with the soils were
assumed under fully saturated condition. Those researchers did not explain how the movement of
water inside the slope might cause the slope failures; therefore, it was commonly believed that heavy
to very heavy rains would cause reduction of effective stress inside the slope due to increase of pore
water pressure.
Commonly in Indonesia, heavy to very heavy rains have been known to occur in relatively short
durations only, and the short durations could be accumulated to about 400 – 845 mm per month
(Indonesia Bureau of Meteorology and Climate.,2008). During those short durations of heavy to very
heavy rainfalls, the rain water reaches the ground surface mostly as the surface runoff, and only
relatively small parts of the rain water may seep into the ground. The amount of rain water infiltration
into the ground depends mainly on the permeability of the soil.
Considering that most of the stable slopes in Indonesia consist of rocky ground or medium to stiff
silt and clay as the dominant constituents, these types of soils may have the permeability values
ranging between 10-3 to 10-7 cm/second, so that only relatively short duration of rains will not be able
make the rain water to penetrate into the soils deep enough to cause slope failure. Assuming soil
permeability value around 10-3 cm/second, which is considered almost porous soil, a heavy rain of
about 8 hours will cause penetration of water into the soil of merely about 30 cm. Certainly, this is not
likely to cause deep slope failure. This is completely contradictory with most deep failures of slopes,
which mostly occurred during heavy or very heavy rain, or slightly after the rain.
Mochtar (2012) had postulated that heavy rain may trigger pore water pressure build up inside a
soil, if cracks were assumed to have existed inside the soil. The existence of cracks in the soil are
found to become very significant factor in determining slope stability, especially during rain. Rain
water may infiltrate into the slope through the existing cracks, so as to cause the slope to deform
further and the cracks to propagate further (Zhang Ga et al.,2012). Therefore, with propagation of
cracks with time, the slope will become more and more critical, so that the slope will eventually fail
during heavy rain.
In this study an effort has been made to investigate the failure at a certain location of a slope of 9-
meter high embankment of fill soil. This embankment was reinforced with stone masonry retaining
wall. All the fill soil behind the stone masonry retaining wall had been well compacted and received
rains for some period of time with the same intensity. Then after certain very heavy rain, one section
of the stone masonry retaining wall suddenly collapsed. Since condition of the fill soil and the stone
masonry retaining wall are similar, the whole retaining wall should have collapsed altogether; yet, the
 Vol. 22 [2017], Bund. 14 5349

failure occurred only at a fraction of the slope and the retaining wall. This anomaly had been
explained by Mochtar (2012) that failure only occurred at the particular location where the cracks had
become more advanced than the cracks at other slope locations nearby, especially if the directions of
the crack planes were somewhat similar with those of the failure planes.
The part of the fill embankment that underwent failure also caused the adjoining part of the
stone masonry retaining wall to break and collapse. This collapse was learned to be caused by
infiltration of rain water into the cracks that causing pore pressure build up inside the slope. The
formation of failure planes can be explained like that in Figure 1. The failure pattern is a translational
one and on slope had seen the cracks inside slope.

a) Location and translation failure pattern

Figure 1: Continues on the next page

 Vol. 22 [2017], Bund. 14 5350

b) the existence of cracks inside slope

Figure 1: The translational failure pattern, location of the slide and existance of cracks

Based on the failure pattern and cracks inside slope at the location of this study, the author could
identify the existence of cracks inside the slope and their influence on the slope stability by using 2
(two) approaches, which are geophysical and geotechnical ones. The geophysical approach had been
performed using the geo-electric method to obtain the mode of soil layer stratification after the failure
occurred, by utilizing the tomographic resistivity, TR, and induced polarization, IP, measurements,
which could be both performed simultaneously. Tomographic resistivity, TR, measurement was a
method to obtain imaging of electric resistivity of soils under the slope surface in 2 or 3 dimensions.
The induced polarization, IP, based on time domain was merely a mean to measure the time for an
injected electric current into the soil to still remain inside soil after the electric current was switched
off. Just after the electric current was switched off, the electric potential inside the soil was
immediately diminishing, and the diminishing time required for all the electric influence inside the
soil media to be gone completely was measured. This diminishing time measuring to decay to zero
was used as the main factor in measuring the induced polarization based time domain of the soil.
 Vol. 22 [2017], Bund. 14 5351

The geotechnical approach was performed from the results of TR and IP surveys to model the soil
stratification and the existence of trapped water inside the soil, before and after the slope underwent
failure. The geotechnical approach was then used to analyze the safety factor of the slope before and
after failure. With this approach, the author was also able to observe in more detail about how the
well compacted fill soil may undergo failure after subjected to heavy and very heavy rain. The rain
water could be seen to infiltrate the soil through the cracks and to cause propagation of the cracks and
water pressure build up inside the cracks, which were all affecting the stability of the slope.

RESULTS OF THE TOMOGRAPHIC RESISTIVITY, TR,

AND INDUCED POLARIZATION, IP
Using the geophysical method, the author could utilize the TR measurement to detect the extend
of water intrusion inside soil; and utilizing the IP measurement to indicate the direction and the
spreading of the crack planes inside the soil. The more critical slopes were learned to be those with
the planes of cracks already developing to follow the pattern of actual failure planes.
The cracks and their propagation inside the slope might be detected from the values of their
induced polarization, IP, measurements. The higher IP values indicated that the soil has developed
more cracks inside (Alexsander.,2016). This higher IP values had been proven by the author with his
research performed at the slope of River Kahayan, in Central Kalimantan, due to the fluctuation of the
river water surface. From this research, 2 soil samples with different IP measurements were observed
figure 2, using CT-scan. From the results, the soil sample with high IP value was found to have many
holes, while the sample with low IP value had almost no holes. From figure 3. and 4. it should be
apparent that the amount of holes in the soil have high correlation with the soil IP values. When the
IP value in soil is higher, more holes are found in the soil.

Figure 2: Locations of taking 2 soil samples, at BH-1 and BH-2

Vol. 22 [2017], Bund. 14 5352

a) Result of CT-Scan for Vertical section

b) Slice result CT-Scan for Vertical section

c) Result of CT-Scan for Horizontal section

Figure 3: Continues on the next page

 Vol. 22 [2017], Bund. 14 5353

d) Slice of CT-Scan for Horizontal section

Figure 3: Result of CT-scan of soil samples that indicated many holes, the sample was taken
from the location of high IP values.

a) Result of CT-Scan for Vertical section

b) Slice result of CT-Scan for Vertical section

Figure 4: Continues on the next page

 Vol. 22 [2017], Bund. 14 5354

c) Result of CT- Scan for Horizontal Section

d) Slice of CT-Scan for Horizontal section

Figure 4: Result of CT-scan of soil sample that indicated almost no holes, the sample was
taken from the location of low IP values.

For this study on slope failure at the area of Sanggu-Buntok airport, Central Kalimantan, the geo-
electric device used was the multi-channel one to measure in 2-dimention only. The geo-electric
device was the DZ6A and Duk-2a type that was made by Chongqing Gold Mechanical & Electrical
Equipment, Co, China. During the TR and IP surveys, the author used Wenner – Schlumberger
configuration, because this configuration had better sensitivity than other configurations, especially in
measuring in lateral and longitudinal directions. (Manual res2dinv ver 3.71., 2011; Manual R Imager
ver 1.1.,2016).
The field measurements were conducted on location using 9 geo-electric scanning lines; the 4
lines are in longitudinal direction outside of the failed slope , which are the Line A,B,C and D. The
other 5 lines consist of 3 lines in longitudinal directions and 2 lines in transversal directions, with
respect to the direction of the slope failure. The positions and results of TR and IP of geo-electric
scanning and bore hole can be seen in Figure 4, 5 and 6
 Vol. 22 [2017], Bund. 14 5355

Figure 4: Positions of geo-electric Line 1 to Line 9 and locations of bore holes.

The results of TR and IP measurements at the lines outside of failed slope, Line A to D in Figure
5 and 6, indicate that no trapped water could be found in this area. Furthermore, in Figure 6 the result
also shows that Line A to D have almost uniform IP measurements, indicating that the cracks
formation are not in line with the landslide path. Therefore, the Line A to D are much more stable
than the lines 1 to 5.
D
C

1 4 5 A
2 B
3

Figure 5: Result of 9 lines of tomography resistivity, TR, measurements.

D
C

4 5 A
1
2 B
3

Figure 6: Result of 9 lines of induced polarization, IP, measurement

The results of TR and IP surveys for Line 1 to 5 can be seen in Figure 7 and 8. In Figure 7, the
results of Line 1 to 3 indicate the existence of trapped water inside the soil to the depth of about 10
meters below the embankment surface, which are also shown by the values of TR between 201 –
252.7 ohm-meter, the location of this area is directly in front of the failure plane. The results of IP
measurement indicate the increase of electric capacity inside the soil that also indicate existence of
 Vol. 22 [2017], Bund. 14 5356

pattern of holes and cracks spreading inside the soil with IP values 7.1 – 13.4 %, such as that given in
Figure 8.

a) TR Result 3d model

Water trapped
High water
Content

b) Interpretation result of TR result

Figure 7: The tomographic resistivity, TR, values of scanning Lines 1 – Line 5 that indicate
the existence and position of trapped water inside the soil.

a) 3d model of induced polarization measurement

Figure 8: Continues on the next page

 Vol. 22 [2017], Bund. 14 5357

Cracks

b) 2 d interpretation of IP result where the cracks are located

Figure 8: The results of induced polarization, IP, of scanning Line 1 – Line 5 that indicate
the spreading of cracks inside the soil.

The spread of high IP-values would represent also the spread of cracks inside the soil, and
those with reddish colors possessed more cracks than with other colors. The extend of water intrusion
and cracks spreading obtained from the geo-electric measurement could be used in the geotechnical
analysis to explain why the slope had undergone failure. These cracks and extend of water intrusion
would cause the slope to become critical and therefore failed. It could be observed that cracks inside
the soil had extended to the depth of about 10 meters below the slope surface and the cracks had been
the conveyance for the rain water to enter the soil to the same depth in that particular location, while
in other places the water intrusion extended only in the shallower depths. The deeper the depth of
water intrusion, and also deeper cracks extension, the more critical the slope would be; especially if
the cracks were already forming the same pattern of the actual failure planes.

MODEL OF SOIL STRATIFICATION AND SLOPE

HISTORY BEFORE AND AFTER FORMATION OF CRACKS
AND WATER INTRUSION
Before making analysis for the slope failure, it was important that the stratigraphy of the soil at
the location of study be identified. The results of TR measurement would indicate the extend of water
intrusion and cracks inside the slope, and the TR measurement could also indicate the maximum
tension zone inside the remaining soil after the failure occurred. This zone of maximum tension could
be determined also from soil samples taken at the location by means of soil boring method. The
tension zone should indicate high IP values. The tension zones at the location of this study were
detected through the high IP values from Line-4 (Figure 8a). Whereas, the Line-5 did not show the
high IP value as those of Line-4, so that soil sampling should be done in Line-5, because the soil in
this Line-5 were still in their natural state before failure. The locations of actual bore holes for soil
sampling can be seen in Figure 3.
The results given in Line-1 to Line-3 could be used to model the soil stratigraphy that could be
made afterwards to calculate the safety factor of the slope. This soil stratigraphy model can be seen in
Figure 8. In this figure, the depth of water intrusion has reached the depth of 8 – 10 meters. For
modeling the soil stratigraphy, the Line-3 could be used, because in this Line-3 one could see larger
and deeper water intrusion into the slope, while the cracks positions were spreading quite evenly
 Vol. 22 [2017], Bund. 14 5358

throughout the areas of water intrusion. The cracks in Line-3 was estimated to reach almost to the
depth of 30 meters, but the relatively even spreading of the cracks were merely to the depth of about
10 meters, where most of the water intrusions were found. This spreading of the cracks was also
found at the location where failure occurred.
The failure of the slope was clearly indicated by the crack pattern that was already following the
failure pattern. The failure slope was at the location where the cracks pattern and intrusion of the
water may cause the slope to have safety factor < 1.0. The Finite-element Plaxis program may be
used to simulate the existence of cracks inside soil by utilizing certain interface values, which in this
case were 0.4 – 0.5. The model of Plaxis simulation can be seen in Figure 9.

Cracks path

a) The cracks spreading inside the soil as seen in Slice 2d.

Water
intrusion

b) Extend of water intrusion inside the soil as seen in Slice 2d

c) Interface model of soil stratification

Figure 9: model stratification with cracks before aanalysis

 Vol. 22 [2017], Bund. 14 5359

ANALYSES OF SLOPE SAFETY FACTORS

The important point in analyzing the soil stratification are to obtain the safety factor of the slope.
In this study, the soil stratification showed that the water intrusion at the particular location where
failure had occurred had reached more than 10-meter depth, and the extend of cracks could be seen at
Figure 9c.
To analyze the stability of the slope, the author used finite element method that was available
with the help of software Plaxis version 8.6. The constitutive model used in failure analysis was the
one with hardening soil model. The choice of using the constitutive model of hardening soil was
considered very reasonable for analyzing soil failure (Plaxis Manual.,2012). The other alternative
models recommended by Plaxis can be seen in Table 1.

Table 1: Recommended usage of models for materials

in geotechnical applications

(source : Manual Plaxis 2012)

Based on the given model, the safety factors obtained for the slope before and after propagation
of cracks and the intrusion of water were calculated to be 1.42 before, and 0.87 after slope failure.
The Safety Factor of 1.42 was the estimated value when the slope and the stone masonry retaining
wall were built initially. The Safety Factor of 0.87 was that of the condition assumed during slope
failure. The results of the Safety Factor calculation can also be seen from Figure 10. In Figure 10, the
history of the slope condition before and after failure could be examined, especially for those showing
the locations of water intrusions and the propagation of cracks, where the water pressure build up was
assumed to occur. The ground water was modelled to simulate also the water pressures inside the
cracks, while the cracks were simulated in Plaxis using special interface values.
Vol. 22 [2017], Bund. 14 5360

a) Plaxis model without cracks and saturated zone

b ) Result of analysis without cracks and saturated zone with SF 1.42

c ) Result of graphic analysis with SF 1.42

 Vol. 22 [2017], Bund. 14 5361

d) Plaxis model with cracks and saturated zone

e) Result of analysis with cracks and saturated zone with SF 0.87

f) result of graphic analysis with SF 0.87

Figure 10: a-c) Initial condition inside the slope with Safety Factor = 1.42. d-e) Later
condition inside the slope when water intrusions had occurred and they were modelled into
Plaxis by means of interface, to cause safety Factor = 0.87.
 Vol. 22 [2017], Bund. 14 5362

CONCLUSIONS
Based on the analyses made for the case of slope failure at Sanggu-Buntok Airport, Central
Kalimantan, Indonesia, the following conclusions could be given:
1. Water intrusions inside the soils are not uniform throughout the slope due to the different
propagation of cracks.
2. Heavy to very heavy rainfalls may trigger water pressure build up inside the cracks that
also may affect the slope stability. The change of slope stability may cause slope failure.
The failure was observed to cause an establishment of tension zones at the adjacent soil
inside slope, where the tension zones can be detected from their high IP (= induced
polarization) values. This high IP values also indicated the existence of cracks inside the
slope.
3. The propagation of cracks inside the slope will determine the mode of failure, and the
failure modes are not just rotational but also translational, or combination of both.

REFERENCES
1. Alexsander Stephanus, 2016. Identifikasi Keberadaan dan Perubahan Cracks dalam
Lereng Tanah Melalui Pengujian Tomographic Resistivity dan Induced Polarization
Sebagai Upaya Pembuktian Hipotesa “The Concept Of Cracked Soil” Draft,
(Identification of the existence and propagation of cracks inside soil slope through testing
by tomographic resistivity and induced polarization method as a mean to explain the
concept of cracked soils). Dissertation Report, Civil Engr. Dept. of ITS, Institut
Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya.
2. BMKG (Indonesia Bureau of Meteorology and Climate), 2008. Curah Hujan dan
Potensi Gerakan Tanah. (Rainfalls and Potential of Ground Movement)
3. Geogiga Software. 2016. Manual Rimager. Ver 1.1. Canada
4. Geotomo Software. July 2011. Manual Res2dinv Ver 3.71. Malaysia
5. Gofar Nuly, Lee Min Lee., Azman Kassim, 2008, “Response of Suction Distribution to
Rainfall Infiltration in Soil Slope”, Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering,
Vol 13 Bund E
6. Mochtar, Indrasurya B, 2012 Kenyataan Lapangan Sebagai Dasar Untuk Usulan Konsep
Baru Tentang Analisa Kuat Geser Tanah dan Kestabilan Lereng (Field Evidences as the
Basis for A Proposed New Concept of Soil Strength and Slope Stability), Proceeding,
Annual Meeting of Indonesian Society of Geotechnical Engineering (PIT HATTI
2012), Jakarta.
7. PLAXIS Manual, 2012. Material Model Manual
8. Sidle, R.C. and Swanston D.N 1982, Analysis of a Small Debris Slide In Coastal Alaska,
Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Vol 19, pp 167 – 174
9. Terzaghi, K. 1950, “Mechanism of Landslide”, in Paige, S. (Editor), Application of
Geology to Engineering Practice, Geological Society of America, New York, pp 83 –
123
Vol. 22 [2017], Bund. 14 5363

10. Zhang, Ga, Wang, Rui, Qian, Jiyun, Zang, Jian-Min, dan Qian, Jiangu, 2012, “Effect
Study of Crack on Behavior of Soil Slope under Rainfall Conditions”, Journal Soils and
Foundations, pp. 634-643.

© 2017 ejge

Editor’s note.
This paper may be referred to, in other articles, as:
Stephanus Alexsander, Indrasurya B. Mochtar, and Widya Utama: “The
Measurements of Water Intrusion through Cracks Propagation Inside
Slopes to Explain the Cause of Slope Failure—Case Study of
Embankment in the Sanggu-Buntok Airport, Central Kalimantan,
Indonesia” Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 2017
(22.14), pp 5347-5362. Available at ejge.com.