Reinforced Slopes and

Yeager Airport Runway

Failure
ASCE Indiana State Section 2016 Annual Meeting
4/20/2016

Malek Smadi, Ph.D., P.E.

Principal Engineer - GEOTILL - Fishers, Indiana
msmadi@geotill.com - www.geotill.com
 CONTENTS

1. Landslides Overview 7. Treatment of Outer Face

2. Reinforced Slopes 8. Implementation

Applications 9. Case Histories
3. Design of Reinforced 10. Yeager Airport Runway
Slopes Failure
4. Reinforced Slope Systems

5. Geosynthetic
Reinforcement

6. Installation Procedures
 Landslides Overview

 Even if foundation conditions are

satisfactory, slopes may be unstable at
the desired slope angle.
 For new construction, the cost of fill,
right-of-way, and other considerations
may make a steeper slope desirable.
 Existing slopes, natural or manmade,
may also be unstable, as is painfully
obvious when they fail.
Example of Landslide
Example of Landslide
Example of Landslide

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Example of Landslide

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Example of Landslide

Massive landslides caught on camera GEOTILL

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 Reinforced Slopes

 Reinforced soil slopes (RSS) are a form

of mechanically stabilized earth that
incorporates planar reinforcing elements
in constructed earth-sloped structures
with face inclinations less than 70º.
 MSE structures with face inclinations of
70º to 90º are classified as walls.
 Reinforced Slopes

Multiple layers of geogrids or geotextiles may be placed in an earthfill

slope during construction or reconstruction to reinforce the soil and
provide increased slope stability.
Reinforced Slopes Applications

Geosynthetics are primarily used as slope

reinforcement for construction of slopes to
angles steeper than those constructed with
the fill material being used.
 Construction of new highway embankments.
 Construction alternative to retaining walls.
 Widening of existing highway embankments.
 Repair of failed slopes.
 Reinforced Slopes Applications

REDUCED FILL
REINFORCED SLOPE REQUIREMENTS
REINFORCED SLOPE
STABLE
RIGHT OF
UNREIN FORCED WAY LIM IT
SLOPE
CONVENTIONAL I t------~
RETAINING WAL¢ .=:1~-~---

(a) NEW CONSTRUCTION (b) WALL ALTERNATIVE

STABLE ADDITIONAL LAND

UN RE INFORCED AVAILABLE FOR LANDSLIDE RECONSTRUCTED TO
SLOPE WIDENING HIGHWAY ORIGINAL SLOPE ANGLE

SLIP PLANE
RIGHT OF WAY
~--~LIMIT

(c) ROAD WIDENING (d) SLIDE REPAIR

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 Design of Reinforced Slopes

The design of reinforcement for safe, steep

slopes requires rigorous analysis. The design
of reinforcement for these applications is
critical because reinforcement failure results
in slope failure. To date, several thousand
reinforced slope structures have been
successfully constructed at various slope
face angles. The tallest structure constructed
in the U.S. to date, is a 1H:1V reinforced
slope 300 feet high (Yeager Airport).
Design of Reinforced Slopes - Engineering Judgment

Engineering Judgment - Ralph B. Peck GEOTILL

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Design of Reinforced Slopes - Failure Modes
Failure Modes

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 Design of Reinforced Slopes - Failure Modes
External Failure Modes
<:

'

Sliding Deep Seated Rotational Failure

Bearing Capacity Failure Excessive Deformation (9

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 Design of Reinforced Slopes
Factor of Safety
Factor of Safety== Capacity (Available Strength)
Demand (Applied Load)

FS == 1.3 Minimum Recommended - Internal,

External and Compound

FS == 1.5 For Critical Structures

FS == 1.1 Minimum for Seismic Loading

1.0 < FS < 1.3 Excessive Deformations Likely

FS==1.0 State of Incipient Failure (9

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Reinforced Slope Systems - Geosynthetic
Geogrid Reinforced Slope

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Reinforced Slope Systems - Geosynthetic

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Reinforced Slope Systems - Geosynthetic

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Reinforced Slope - Installation Procedures

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Treatment of Outer Face

Reinforced Soil Slopes Facing GEOTILL

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SR 62 Landslide in Dearborn County Indiana

GEOTILL
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SR 62 Landslide in Dearborn County Indiana

RB-103-I
Station: 13~
Oflstt: 31 L
llt\-:uion: ~0

RB-10..
Station: lH-(H
Offstt: 30 L
llt\"3Don: ~ 0

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SR 62 Landslide in Dearborn County Indiana

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SR 62 Landslide in Dearborn County Indiana

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SR 62 Landslide in Dearborn County Indiana
Weathered Shale

·~· ';:. ,": '_~

. ;. ~~~ (9
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SR 62 Landslide in Dearborn County Indiana
Slake Durability Test for the Shale

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SR 62 Landslide in Dearborn County Indiana

Residual Internal Friction Angle

for Weathered Shale = 14o
SR 62 Landslide in Ripley County Indiana
Yeager Airport Runway Extension

Yeager Airport Runway

Extension in 2005
Tallest Known
Geosynthetic Reinforced
1H:1V Slope in
North America
Yeager Airport Runway Extension

Yeager Airport History

 Yeager Airport in Charleston, WV, formerly
known as Kanawha Airport, was completed in
1947.
 The Airport was constructed atop 7 semi-
connected hilltops known as “Coonskin
Ridge”.
 Yeager Airport is located about 3 miles east
of downtown Charleston in West Virginia
Yeager Airport Runway Extension

Yeager Airport History: Grading operations 1946

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Yeager Airport Runway Extension

Yeager Airport History

 Earthwork consisted of 9 million cubic yards
of soil and rock.
 Second largest earth moving project in the
world, behind only the Panama Canal.
Yeager Airport Runway Extension
Yeager Airport History: Airport at Grade,1947

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Yeager Airport Runway Extension

Yeager Airport Expansion

 Due to FAA Safety Requirements it was
necessary to extend Runway 5 approximately
500 feet.
 The challenge: how to extend the runway out
over a 300 feet slope?.
 Yeager Airport Runway Extension

Existing
Required Runway Extension Runway 5
Elev. 940'

Elev. 930'

Existing Slope

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 Yeager Airport Runway Extension

Runway 5
Slope Area

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 Yeager Airport Runway Extension

Subsurface Exploration
 Slope bearing area consisted mainly of colluvial,
sandstone rock and some shale.
 RQD of Sandstone mostly above 70%.
 Compressive strength of rock cores: 4,410 –14,160
psi.
 Borrow area consisted mainly of weathered
sandstone, sandstone and some claystone.
 Max. Dry Density of sandstone: 122 –133 pcf.
 Internal Friction Angle: 38.9 –39.6 degrees.
Yeager Airport Runway Extension

Soil Properties for Design

Residual Internal Friction Angle for

Weathered Shale was not addressed
Could be 10o to 16o
 Yeager Airport Runway Extension

Reinforced Slope Design

Due to allowance of up to 152 mm (6 inch)

diameter rock fill, project specific installation
damage testing was performed on proposed
Miragrid reinforcement material.
Yeager Airport Runway Extension

Slope Cross Section

Yeager Airport Runway Extension

Reinforced Slope
 Embedment Lengths of Primary Reinforcement
ranged from 175 to 145 feet.
 Approximately 1 Million Cubic Yards of Fill.
 384,000 SY of Miragrid 20XT
 256,000 SY of Miragrid 10XT
 75,000 SY of MiraMesh GR
Construction of Yeager Airport Runway Expansion, 2005

By John M. Lostumbo of Mirafi Geosynthetics

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Construction of Yeager Airport Runway Expansion

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Construction of Yeager Airport Runway Expansion

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Construction of Yeager Airport Runway Expansion

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Construction of Yeager Airport Runway Expansion

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Construction of Yeager Airport Runway Expansion

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Construction of Yeager Airport Runway Expansion

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Construction of Yeager Airport Runway Expansion

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Construction of Yeager Airport Runway Expansion

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Construction of Yeager Airport Runway Expansion

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Construction of Yeager Airport Runway Expansion

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Construction of Yeager Airport Runway Expansion

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 Engineered Material Arrestor System (EMAS)

The jet was stopped approximately 150 feet from the edge of the slope by the EMAS
In 2010

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 Engineered Material Arrestor System

All 34 passengers and

crew survived the incident
with only minor injuries
reported.
Patchy Fog, Landing at Yeager Airport Sep 29, 2014

Six Months Before Failure in Sep 29, 2014 GEOTILL

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 Yeager Airport Runway Failure

Yeager Airport Runway Failure:

A worst-case scenario became reality in March
2015 when a large portion of the Yeager Airport
hillside which began experiencing some
disturbing slippage the days before — collapsed
into the valley along Keystone Drive, destroying
at least one house, damaging a church, blocking
a creek and forcing the evacuation of dozens of
residents.
Six residents had been moved out of their
houses below the slope as movement of the
slope had been detected in the EMAS
Yeager Airport Landslide Caught on Tape

After 10 Years the Failure Occurred in March, 2015 GEOTILL

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Yeager Airport Landslide

C.W. Sigman Emergency Manager GEOTILL

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Yeager Airport Runway Failure

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Yeager Airport Runway Failure

Is it a design failure or something happened at the

toe of the slope. Is it the rock below the reinforced
slope has failed – this might explain the interesting
geometry of the collapse
Yeager Airport Runway Failure

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Yeager Airport Runway Failure

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Yeager Airport Runway Failure

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 Yeager Airport Runway Failure

This appears to include a competent pale sandstone over a

greyish finer grained rock (Shale/ claystone/ siltstone?)
 Yeager Airport Runway Failure

Google earth image before the failure, note the rocks between
slope and road.
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 Yeager Airport Runway Failure

840

920

800

1180

1180

&40

120

100

780

----------r---r 700

~
Original design Reinforced 1:1 earth slope extension
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 Yeager Airport Runway Failure

Notice the phrase in the original soil investigation

“sandstone and some shale”. Could this simple
phrase be the key for what happened? It is well
known that even small intercalations of shale can
produce enormous geotechnical problems as the
case of many landslides in Southern Indiana. The
first reason is that shale materials have much
lower compressive strength but more importantly
considerably lower friction angle. Furthermore if
not fractured, they present a very low permeability
barrier. Usually water is seeping in the sandstone
– shale interface, asymmetrically weathers the
shale and also produces increased pore
pressures in that interface. Could such an
interface (or failure surface) had been formed in
this case?
 Yeager Airport Runway Failure

Very simple model

evaluating the
possibility of failure
due to weathered
shale intercalation

Residual Internal Friction Angle

for Weathered Shale = 16o
Produce FS = 0.99
 Questions ?
Dr. Malek Smadi, P.E.
Principal Engineer - GEOTILL - Fishers, Indiana
msmadi@geotill.com - www.geotill.com