Sixth Indian Young Geotechnical Engineers Conference 6IYGEC2017

10-11 March 2017, NIT Trichy, India

FAILURE ANALYSIS OF RAILWAY EMBANKMENT

CONSTRUCTED ON SOFT SOIL AT TRIPURA – A CASE STUDY

Chaidul Haque Chaudhuri1

Shubhayan Gangopadhyay2
Dr. Rajib Saha3
PG Student, 2PG Student, 3Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Agartala-799046.
1
1
chaidul.kdl@gmail.com, 2gangulyshubhayan93@gmail.com, 3 rajib.civil@nita.ac.in

Koteswar Ponnala4
4AssistantExecutive Engineer, NF Railway, Tripura
koteshirse@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: Construction of structure (especially road and railway embankment) in soft ground is a challenging task for
the engineers unless an effective and economically viable ground improvement technique is adopted. The present study
highlights analysis of recent failure of railway embankment (near to Udaipur station yard area, chainage 42.30km) of
Agartala-Sabroom broad gauge (B.G) rail line project. At failure location, it is observed that the 6.0m height of railway
embankment is constructed on marshy paddy land which consists of deposit of soft clayey silt/sandy silt layer with
decomposed organic matters for considerable depth. Failure in the form of subsidence of maximum 1m at the right side of
crest of the completed embankment was observed after heavy rain during monsoon season. In fact, construction of
embankment has caused obstruction for natural drainage of rain water which might be the primary reason of failure of
embankment. Present study performed both seepage and slope stability analysis using finite element based software to
assess the variation of factor of safety (FOS) considering with and without water stagnant condition. It is observed that the
seepage pressure due to rise in water level in embankment affects the FOS of slope significantly. Based on the analysis,
ground improvement in the form of prefabricated vertical drains (PVD) along with sub-bank construction in both side of
embankment is suggested. It indicates that construction of PVD along with sub-bank construction enhances the stability of
slope in order of 1.6 times which may be a sustainable solution for construction of embankment in soft soil.

KEYWORDS: Railway Embankment, Soft soil, PVD, Seepage analysis, Slope stability, Geo-studio2007.

1 INTRODUCTION blanketing material and stone ballast was failed near

Rapid growth in transportation sector of India has
offered many construction challenges for the engineers.
Construction of embankment for road or railway in soft
ground is one of them. Sustainable solution of such
problem has got special attention from
engineers/researchers throughout the world. The
present study highlights a case study of railway
embankment related to 104 km BG rail line extension
project from Agartala to Sabroom at Tripura located in
north-eastern part of our country. The implementation
of this project is monitored by North East Frontier
Railway (Construction Organization) under technical
supervision of Rites/IRCON Ltd. This project will be
an important one in Indian railway map from the point
of view of south east corridor project. A 6.0m high
embankment carrying another approx. 1m height of
Udaipur station (chainage 42.30 to 42.50km) after
heavy rain during the month of July 2016. The
monsoon period generally starts in the month of May
and continues upto August. A considerable subsidence
in order of maximum 1m was observed at the right side
of crest level of embankment and extended for a stretch
of 600m towards Agartala. The embankment was
constructed in marshy subsoil ground consisting of soft
clayey silt layer mixed with traces of decomposed
wood, vegetation etc. present up to considerable depth
below existing ground. It is reported that the
construction of earthwork was completed two years
before the rail line construction and the significant
settlement of embankment got stabled with
replacement of foundation soft layer with considerable
volume of filled up earth. Insufficient drainage of rain
water lead to significant seepage pressure in

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Failure analysis of railway embankment constructed on soft soil at tripura – A case study

embankment due to stagnation of water up to HFL may Table 1 Soil Properties

be the reason behind the failure of the slope. Hence, it
is anticipated that the failure was caused due to seepage Properties Embankment Soil Sub-Soil
pressure developed due to stagnation of rain water. 3
Finite element based software Geo-Studio (2007) is Unit Weight 21.0 kN/m 19.0 kN/m3
used in present study in order to analyze the failure of Cohesion 5.0 kPa 20.0 kPa
slope as used elsewhere (Tatewar and Laxman 2012, Friction Angle 20 0
00
Griffiths and Lane 1999). Both seepage and slope K saturation 1×10 -6
1×10-8
stability analysis are performed with and without
Saturated Water
stagnation of water up to HFL. Further, same analysis 25% 36%
Content
are performed on the embankment after incorporating
Residual Water
ground improvement with consideration of worst 20% 30%
Content
position of water level. However, ground improvement
Liquid Limit 24% 50%
in the form of PVD is considered to be provided 2m
above the base of the embankment and laterally Plastic Limit 16% 27%
continued in both side of embankment upto10m from Max. Dry Density 1.739 gm/cc 1.9 gm/cc
the toe. In addition, sub-bank of height of 3m is also
proposed in both side for increasing the stability of
slope. The numerical analysis of all these case study
helps to develop an insight into the problem and 3 NUMERICAL MODELLING
implement the time and cost saving ground
improvement technique. Finite element based program Geo-studio (2007) is
used in present study to model the embankment and
foundation soil with and without ground improvement.
Seepage and slope stability analysis are performed
2 DESCRIPTION OF SITE AND DETAILS using SEEP/W and SLOPE/W module respectively.
OF EMBANKMENT This software is reported to be robust in graphical
representation and inexpensive in time. The
embankment, sub-bank and foundation soil are
The site is marshy paddy land consisting of very soft to
modeled by 2D element attributing Mohr-Coulomb
soft clayey soil layer mixed with decomposed organic
material model. The weight of blanketing material,
matters etc. upto considerable depth below ground
ballast and rail line are modeled as uniformly
level which is further followed by sand layer. The
distributed loading on the top of embankment.
properties of embankment soil and subsoil layer at
However, PVD is modeled by a line element having
shallow depth is presented in Table 1.The details of
zero pressure head (boundary condition). The analysis
embankment geometry is given as: top width 10.0m,
is performed under steady-state condition with
total height 6.0m and side slope is 2:1(H:V). The
consideration of water table to HFL for seepage
proposed sub-bank dimensions and PVD are as
analysis in both the cases i.e. with and without
follows, top width 6.0m, bottom width 10.0m and
provision of PVD and sub-bank. This analysis will help
height is 3.0m, length of PVD = 12.0m, diameter is
to compare the phreatic line generation through the
150mm and placed the drain in a square grid pattern
embankment which is an input to the failure analysis.
with a spacing of 2.0mc/c. A drainage layer consisting
SLOPE/W analysis is performed under limit
of coarse sand with geotextile at the top of PVD is
equilibrium condition by taking pore water pressure
provided for draining of pore water. HFL is found to be
conditions from steady-state seepage analysis. In this
at 4.0m above ground level. A layer of blanketing
study slip surface was established by defining entry
material (unit wt. = 20.20 kN/m3) of 600mm height and
and exit location. Factor of safety (FOS) is calculated
stone ballast (unit wt. = 20 kN/m3) of 300mm height
by Ordinary, Bishop, Janbu and Morgenstern-price
respectively was overlaid on the embankment. Further,
method (Bishop 1955, Janbu N 1954, Morgenstern and
rail lines were placed on the ballast.
Price 1965) considering with and without
improvement. Fig. 1 presents schematic diagram of
numerical model.

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 Sixth Indian Young Geotechnical Engineers Conference 6IYGEC2017
10-11 March 2017, NIT Trichy, India

observed in Fig. 4. Hence, the influence of additional

(a) seepage pressure acting as disturbing forces
counterbalanced by increased stabilizing force which
is attributed by increased shear strength parameters
due to installation of PVDs and construction of sub-
bank. This results to increase in FOS against slope
stability in order of maximum 60% as shown in Table
2.

Table 2 Calculated Factor of Safety for the slope

Without
With
(b) Methods Improvement
Improvement
(Worst Condition)
Ordinary 0.943 1.542
Bishop 1.059 1.697
Janbu 0.936 1.514
Morgenstern-
1.050 1.675
price

Fig.1 Schematic diagram of numerical model: a)

Embankment without ground improvement, b)
Embankment with PVD and sub-bank

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

At first, the SEEP/W analysis is performed for the

emabankment section with HFL condition. Fig. 2
shows that the seepage lines are passing through the
embankment. Further, SLOPE/W analysis is carried
out for the slope without improvement which
indicates that the FOS is lesser than 1.0 or equal to 1
as per different methods presented in Table 2. This
may be due to additional disturbing force caused due
Fig. 2 Factor of safety using Morgenstern-price
to seepage pressure developed during water stagnent
condition for a long time after rain. Inadequete method and Phreatic line (without improvement)
drainage of significant volume of accumulated rain
water may be the primary cause of the failure. Fig 3
presents the observed failure of the embankment at
site. The railway authority desired an immeadiate
solution for retrofitting of the failed embankment
adopting a feasible ground improvement which may
render a sustainable solution. The ground
improvement by installing PVD and sub-bank
construction was found to be the feasible solution
considering the ground condition and limitation of
time.
The numerical analysis is also performed in Geo-
The numerical analysis is also performed in
Geo-studio (2007) for the embankment with proposed
ground improvement considering HFL condition. It is
observed that the length of circular failure arch
increases as compared to without improvement case
due to installation of PVDs upto 12m depth below Fig. 3 Embankment failure at site
ground level and construction of sub-bank as

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Failure analysis of railway embankment constructed on soft soil at tripura – A case study

Fig. 4 Factor of safety using Morgenstern-price

method and Phreatic lines (with improvement).

5 CONCLUSION

Present study highlights numerical analysis of a case

study failure of a recently constructed railway
embankment at Tripura. Analysis indicates that
failure occurred due to increase in disturbing force
attributed by additional seepage pressure developed
due to stagnation of water table up to HFL for a
considerable time, as a result of heavy rain during
monsoon season. However, ground improvement by
construction of PVD and sub-bank increases the
stability of slope in order of maximum 60% due to
increase in subsoil shear strength parameters and
increase in length of failure arch. Hence, the limited
numerical analysis gives positive results in support of
proposed ground improvement technique.

References
Bishop, A.W. (1955) “The use of slip circle in the
stability analysis of earth slopes.” Geotechnique,
5(1), 7- 17.
Griffiths, D.V. and Lane P.A. (1999) “Slope stability
analysis by finite elements”, Geotechnique, 49(3):
387-403.
Janbu N. (1954) “Application of composite slip surfaces
for stability analysis”, Proc. European Conference on
Stability of Earth Dams, 3:43-49,
Morgenstern, N. R., and Price, V. E. (1965) "The
Analysis of the Stability of General Slip Surfaces.", J.
Geotech. , 1, 79-93.
Tatewar. S.P. and Laxman N.P., (2012) “Stability
Analysis Of Earth Dam By Geostudio Software”.
International Journal of Civil Engineering, 3(2): 437-
446.