LANDSLIDES – STABILITY AND CONTROL MEASURES

Purnanand Savoikar1 Amir Hede2

1
Professor in Civil Engineering Department, Goa College of Engineering, Farmagudi,
Ponda Goa. 403401. India. psavoikar@gmail.com
2
Post-Graduate Student, Foundation Engineering, Civil Engineering Department, Goa
College of Engineering, Farmagudi, Ponda-Goa, 403401. India.
ashutosh2524@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: Landslides occur due to instability of soil slopes and is a global problem of
concern. Study of slope stability analysis, design and control has gained importance since
almost every construction and mining projects involve either cutting or filling of slopes in
addition to stability of natural slopes and fills. In the present study novel retaining structures
and three case studies involving forensic investigations of landslides is carried out.

Keywords: Landslides, soil nailing, gabions, stress relieving technique, relieving platforms

1 INTRODUCTION

Natural calamities including earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, floods, cyclones,

droughts and volcanic eruptions have been affecting mankind since beginning of
civilization. The impact of these disasters is more severe in developing countries
which have higher population densities. Globally, the landslides, a prominent natural
disaster, are estimated to cause approximately 1000 deaths annually apart from
damaging property worth millions of dollars. The secondary effects of landslides
could also be disastrous such as impact of waves generated by landslides entering
water bodies, and formation of landslide dams resulting from blockade of drainage
courses and consequent floods due to breaching/overtopping. During Assam
Earthquakes (1897 & 1950), Kangra (1905), Uttarkashi (1991), Chamoli (1999),
Kashmir (2005) widespread landslide activity that severely affected the
communication routes and human settlements to a large extent was observed.

2 LANDSLIDES – TYPES AND CAUSES

2.1 Types of landslides

Landslide is a movement of mass of rocks, earth or debris down a slope under the
impact of gravity. Figure 1 shows the various types of landslides classified based on
speed of the movement of sliding mass and the condition under which this movement
is triggered.
 Fig. 1: Types of landslides (Source: GSI)

2. 2 Causes of Landslides
Landslides occur when the forces acting down-slope exceed the strength of the earth
materials composing the slope to cause a landslide. The causes of landslides could
be due to rainfall, snowmelt, water level changes, ground water depletion, stream
erosion, earthquakes, volcanic activity, disturbance by human activities or a
combination of these. Submarine landslides can lead to tsunamis as well.
Geological causes: These include weak or sensitive materials, weathered materials,
sheared, jointed or fissured materials. Other geological factors range from bedding
to schistosity, fault, unconformity, contact and contrast in permeability/ stiffness of
material.
Morphological causes: Morphological causes include tectonic or volcanic uplift,
glacial rebound, thawing, vegetation moral, deposition loading slope or its crest,
wave of glacial erosion of slope or lateral margins or subterranean erosion through
solution, piping. Freeze and thaw weathering as well as shrink and swell weathering
may also cause landslides.
Human causes: these include water leakage from utilities, excavation of slope or its
tow, loading of slope or its crest, drawdown of reservoirs, irrigation, mining,
artificial vibration and deforestation.
Slope saturation by water: Flooding, rainfall, snowmelt, ground water depletion,
water level changes across dams, lakes, reservoirs, canals and rivers may also lead
to landslides.

2.3 Landslide zonation map of India:

Landslide Hazard Zonation map of India is divided into five major zones as detailed
below and in Fig. 2:
1. The Western Himalayas ( Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh and
Jammu & Kashmir)
2. The Eastern & North-eastern Himalayas (West Bengal, Sikkim and
Arunachal Pradesh)
 3. The Naga-Arakkan Mountain belt (Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and
Tripura)
4. The Western Ghats region including Nilgiris (Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka,
Kerala & Tamil Nadu)
5. The Plateau margins of the Peninsular India and Meghalaya plateau in
North-east India.

Fig. 2: Landslide hazard zonation map of India (Source : www.bmtpc.org)

3 LITERATURE REVIEW
Studies conducted on possible causes of landslides & measures to correct the same
in Pagla-Jhora region of Darjeeling in the state of West Bengal [1] concluded that
the geological and lithological setting of Pagla-Jhora region shows high prone to
landslides not only due to operation of natural agents but also due to increasing
human activities. Studies were conducted to understand the joined influence of non-
linearity & dilation on the slope stability analysis [2]. It was concluded that nonlinear
failure criteria & flow rule have important effects on the slope stability. Therefore,
it is advisable to use a proper value of dilation angle and nonlinear parameters to find
the corresponding values of stability factors for engineering design.
Studies were conducted on assessment of Malbasey landslide during 2011, India-
Nepal earthquake [3]. It was concluded that the Malbasey slope was high vulnerable
to landslides during seismic activity. Recent studies on the landslide disaster site at
Pune – India on Malin landslide [4] concluded that the heavy rainfall in the area was
one of the major causative factors in movement of soil mass. It was found out that
the top soil overlying basalt rock is clay soil of medium plasticity. Transitional
failure occurred due to slipping of soil mass from basalt rock. From the
investigations of landslides at Chinnabikatty at Nilgiris along NH67 in the state of
Tamilnadu [5], it was concluded that the Chinnabikatty at Nilgiris along NH67 was
a site of repeated failure due to landslides.
4 FORENSIC STUDY OF THREE LANDSLIDE SITES IN GOA

4.1 Stability Analysis

In the present study, three typical landslides that had occurred in Goa in the recent
past has been taken for forensic study [6]. These sites were located in the South Goa
district. The photos taken at the site after landslides are shown in Fig. 3 below. The
soil samples were collected from the site and were analysed in the laboratory. The
details of various tests conducted as per the relevant IS Codes are tabulated below in
Table 1 and Table 2.

Fig. 3 : Landslides occurred at Goa (a) Ambajim, Margao (b) Raia, Salcette and
(c) Canacona Goa

Table 1 : Site details of the three landslide sites in Goa

Sr. Site Height of slope Inclination of Cohesion Friction angle
No. (m) slope ( ) (c) kN/m
2
()

1. Raia 4.2 72.83 4 24.02

2. Ambajim 13.8 71.60 8 28.3

3. Canacona 8.5 61.09 3 27.6

Table 2: Geotechnical properties of the soil samples collected from the site
Site Grain Size Analysis Specific Dry Liquid Plastic PI
Gravity Density Limit Limit %
Gravel Sand Silt &
(G) (d) % %
Content Content Clay
kN/m3
(%) (%) Content
(%)
Raia 33.95 55.73 10.33 2.57 15.3 46 32 14

Ambajim 28.06 65.61 6.33 2.66 15.3 41 29 12

Canacona 43 52.77 4.23 2.62 16.5 56 36 20

The static and seismic slope stability analysis were performed using Geo-studio 2012
software and the results are tabulated in Table 3 below and the failure surfaces are
shown in Figs. 4 to 6. Models were initially analysed under static condition using
Morgensten – Price method and further analysed in seismic condition using same
geometry & same material properties. Time history record of Kobe earthquake was
used for the analysis under QUAKE/W module of GEO-STUDUIO suite. Optum G2
software was used for stability analysis after implementing slope protection
measures.

Table 3: Factor of safety against sliding for the slopes

Site Height Factor of safety Slope protection Factor of safety
of the method suggested after slope
slope protection (Static)
Static Seismic
Raia 4.2m 0.844 0.841 Gabion gravity wall 1.766

RCC cantilever wall 1.828

Ambajim 13.8m 0.827 0.709 Soil nailed wall 1.439

Tie back wall 1.32

Gabion RE wall 1.956

Canacona 8.5m 0.766 0.677 Soil nailed wall 2.339

RCC cantilever wall 1.906

Fig. 4: Static stability analysis (a) at failure (b) after implementing soil
nailing protection measures at Ambajim site

Fig. 5: Static stability analysis (a) at failure (b) after implementing Gabion
RE wall protection measures at Raia site
Fig. 6: Static stability analysis (a) at failure (b) after implementing soil nailing
protection measures at Canacona site

5 ADVANCED TYPE OF RETAINING STRUCTURES

5.1 Relieving Platform Technique

Cantilever retaining walls are economical up to height of 6m. However, High
cantilever retaining walls can be designed by adding relief shelves on the backfill
side of the wall. These relief shelves have advantages of decreasing the acting lateral
pressure and increasing the overall stability of the retaining wall. Though research
had been taken place on this topic quite early but it was unnoticed and was not
implemented in practice. Figure 7(a) shows the typical cantilever retaining wall with
one relief shelf and the pressures acting on the wall. It can be seen that the design of
stem becomes economical by adding the shelf.
The effect of adding one or more relief shelves to the counterfort retaining wall on
stability was studied [7] by extending relief shelves up to the theoretical rupture
surface. It was reported that the relief shelves decrease the lateral earth pressure on
the wall and increase the stability of the overall retaining structure. Similar
observations were reported by [8],[9],[10].

FEM studies were conducted on cantilever retaining walls with and without relief
shelves using PLAXIS2D-AE hardening soil model to understand the effectiveness
of providing shelves and to study the effect of number of shelves, shelf height, shelf
width, and shelf thickness on pressure distribution [11]. It was reported that a single
shelf provided at depth of 0.3H from top reduces the bending moment by about 30%
compared to a cantilever retaining wall without shelves.

5.2 Controlled Yielding Technique

In this technique, a vertical compressible material is introduced between the
retaining wall and the backfill, so that the compressible material will deform to allow
the lateral movement of the soil which will result in the reduction of lateral soil
pressure on the wall. In this case, thickness of compressible material can be designed
to allow for required expansion of backfill material. Hence it is termed as controlled
yielding technique [12]. These are best suited for rigid retaining structures such as
basement walls, abutments, box culverts etc., where the lateral movement of the wall
is curtailed and there is no scope for the soil to expand laterally. The effectiveness
of this technique depends upon the thickness and properties of compressible medium
used. Also, the effectiveness may reduce over time due to soil creep, soil
readjustment and thermal induced wall deformation.

(a) (b)
Fig. 7: (a) Relieving platform technique and (b) Controlled yielding technique [13]

The laboratory and field investigations were done using the controlled yielding
technique for the rigid box culverts to study the reduction in earth pressure on wall
[13] which indicated that it is possible to reduce the earth pressures to or below the
active state by controlled yielding.
The effect of geofoam compressible material was studied on a rigid non-yielding
retaining wall by using small-scale model tests and numerical analyses [14]. It was
reported that the relative thickness and stiffness of geofoam leads to the reduction of
the lateral earth thrust. The presence of a less-stiff layer of geofoam within the upper
mid height of the retaining wall provide improvement in load isolation performance
by mobilization of additional shear resistance in the retained soil mass. The above
two techniques, though tested in lab and in the field also in the past were not used
effectively. However, these need to be thoroughly studies for possible applications
of slope retention in constrained areas where there is no space availability for using
conventional slope protection measures.

6 CONCLUSIONS

Landslides are major cause of concern in developing countries. The triggering factor
like rainfall, high level of development activities, cutting of vegetation, etc. are the
major reasons for landslides. Since man-made causes of landslides is one of the main
reason in addition to above, the land use policies and regulations should also be in
place in such areas which are prone to landslides. Various slope protection measures
like RCC retaining walls, reinforced earth walls, soil nailed walls, gabion walls, tie
back wall, etc. need to be implemented considering the various factors like height of
the slope, type of the soil, availability of space for construction, cost, long term
durability, etc. The effectiveness of newer techniques like relieving platform
techniques or controlled yielding techniques also need to be evaluated.
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