UBGMWQ-15-3-TUTORIAL 4

Question 1
A 12 m high compacted clay embankment is to be constructed on the ground
surface. An undrained slope stability analysis is to be carried out and the centre
of the critical slip circle has been established as occurring at point O as shown
below.

Fig. 6
The completed embankment can be assumed to be homogenous and will
possess constant density and undrained shear strength throughout its mass.
Determine the factor of safety of the slope in the short‐term (undrained state)
if;
(a) A tension crack develops and fills with rainwater. (Smith 2021).
(b) A tension crack develops but not filled with rainwater

QUESTION 2
The 6.1 m high homogeneous clay embankment shown below is constructed on
the surface of a hard layer of clay, which the slip circle touches tangentially. The
slope angle, β = 35° and the slip circle cuts through the upper surface, 3.2 m
behind the crest of the slope. The long‐term pore pressure is estimated to be
constant throughout the embankment at 50 kPa. Determine the long‐term
factor of safety of the trial slip circle shown. Ans. 1.64

Question 3
According to the Bishop’s method, for drained condition (in terms of effective
stress) the factor of safety equation can be written as:

Where; Weight of the ith slice = 𝑊𝑖

Angle of inclination of the ith slice = αi (this can be calculated for each slice by
connecting the centre of each slice to the centre of a trial circle).
Width of the ith slice = bi
mi is obtained using equation but can also be read off the chart in Figure 3 using
an assumed factor of safety (say 1 to 3).
Consider a slope consisting of clay and sand layers at the top and bottom of the
slope that was initially submerged with water but the water level has now been
drawn down to the level of the top of the sand. The slope is divided into 8 equal
slice of width 1 m with centre of the trial circle O and radius of 5.83 m as shown
in Figure 1. Calculate the factor of safety using Bishop’s method.

Figure 1. Slope divided into 8 slice

Ans. 2-3.5 is fine
The slope profile, dimensions and slice areas will usually be obtained in
AutoCAD but you can use the following steps to obtain the dimensions and
area(s) of each slice;
 Download the document as a PDF
 Zoom in up to 150% (i.e make the image to be bigger to 150%)
 Use ruler to measure the 1 m width of slice 6 (this should read 2 cm on the
ruler provided that the zoom in is still 150%)
 So your scale is 2 cm on ruler = 1 m
 Now, measure the dimensions of each of the slices (slice 1 to 8) using a scale
of 2 cm on ruler equals 1 m width of slice (remember to enlarge the image to
150%)
 Work out the area of each slice (you need the area to work out Wi)
 Take note of dimension of slices with two areas (area in clay and area in
sand).
Column 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Slice area Slice area Total Slice Slice Slice angle Pore mi (from c’b +(W- c’b +(W-
in layer 1 in layer 2 area A weight, W width, b pressure u chat or ub)tanφ ub)tanφ x
(m2) (m2) (m2) (m) α WSinα equation for 1/mi
(kN/m) an
Slice no. (deg)
assumed FS)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Sum Sum =
=

For example, Slice 6 of your coursework.

 Column 1: Slice area in layer 1 = area of a rectangle (measure
dimensions from the figure)
  Column 2: Slice area in layer 2 = area of a triangle (measure dimensions
from the figure)
 Column 3: Total area = area of rectangle + area of a triangle (Because
slice 6 falls within two layers i.e. part of it is in Clay while the other part
is in Sand)
 Column 4: Slice weight, W = Area (A) x unit weight (γ)
 Column 5: Slice width (measure dimension from the figure)
 Column 6: Inclination of the bottom of the slice, 𝛼, in degrees measured
from the horizontal [positive when the bottom of the slice is inclined in
the same direction as the slope face (e.g., near the crest of the slope);
negative when the base of the slice is inclined in the direction opposite
that of the slope face (e.g., near the toe of the slope)]
 Column 7: Product of the weight of the slice and Sine of the slice angle
 Column 8: Pore water pressure at the center of the bottom of the
slice, (unit weight of water X height of water above the center of the
base of the slice).
 Column 9: To calculate mi, assume a factor of safety and then use the
equation of mi as discussed.
 Column 10: Intermediate-term used to compute numerator in the
equation for the factor of safety: c′ b + (W − ub) tan 𝜙′ = (put the
numbers in calculator).
Where c’ = Cohesion value for soil at bottom of the slice, 𝜙′ = Friction angle for
soil at bottom of the slice
C’ = 0 and 𝜙′ = 30o (this is the case for slice 6 and might change for other slices
depending on the layer where their slip circle falls).
 Column 11: c’b + (W - ub)tanφ x 1/mi = (put the numbers in calculator
to get your value) FS = Sum of Column 11 divided by Sum of Column 7.
3
.