SLOPE STABILIZATION

 Slope Stabilization – is the process of resisting driving forces to provide an improved factor of
safety against slope failure. This can be achieved through mechanical, structural, or geotechnical
methods.
o Slope can be stabilized by adding a surface cover to the slope, excavating, and changing
(or regrading) the slope geometry, adding support structures to reinforce the slope or
using drainage to control the groundwater in slope material.
o Slope failures occur when driving forces overcome resisting forces. The driving force is
typically gravity, and the resisting force is the slope material’s shear strength.
o Factors that influence the slope stability of an embankment:
 Shear strength of the soil
 Unit weight
 Embankment of the height
 Slope steepness
 Pore pressure within the soil
o Slope stability problems:
 Excavation slope instability may result from:
 Failure to control seepage forces in and at the toe of the slope
 Too steep slopes for the shear strength of the material being excavated
 Insufficient shear strength of subgrade soil
o Causes of Failure of slopes:
 Gravitational force (Creep)
 Force due to seepage water (swelling/leaching)
 Erosion of the surface of slopes due to flowing water
 The sudden lowering of water adjacent to a slope (Rapid Drawdown)
 Forces due to earthquake

 Failure Modes in Rock and Soil Slopes/ Slope Failure

o Slope failures are essentially natural hazards that occur in many areas over the
world. Popularly known as landslides, slope failures describe a wide variety of
mechanisms that cause the outward or downward movement of slope-
forming materials like rock, soil or landfills. Landslide can result either from
rock failure or soil failure. While in rock the failure plane is predetermined, in
soil failure, the failure plane occurs along the line of maximum stress.
o There is a theory that all slopes are inherently unstable and it is only a matter
of geologic time that slope failure occurs. Apart from external triggers like
heavy rains, earthquakes, construction projects, there are also internal causes
for slope failures. Slopes lose strength over time through numerous events
and certain lithologies lend itself more to specific types of failure.

 Rock Slope Failure

 o In this type of failure, the failure plane is predetermined. The orientation and
spacing of the discontinuities plane with respect to the slope face are the
determinants of rock slope failure. Failure could arise from a single
discontinuity, a pair of intersecting discontinuities or a pattern of multiple
discontinuities that form a failure mode.
 Plane Failure
o The failure surface in planar failures are resulted by
structural discontinuities like bedding planes, faults or the interface between
weathered rock and the underlying bedrock. This kind of failure leads to
sliding action along the failure surface. Hence, planar failure occurs in
response to a single discontinuity.

 Conditions for plane failure are as follows:

 the strikes of both the sliding plane and the slope face lie parallel (±20°) to
each other.
 the dip angle of the failure plane should be less than the dip angle of the
slope face. This is called Daylight.
 the dip of the sliding plane is greater than φ’ (angle of friction)
Keywords:
Dip is the acute angle that a rock surface makes with a horizontal plane
Strike is the direction of the line formed by the intersection of a rock surface
with a horizontal plane.
 Strike and dip are always perpendicular to each other.

 Wedge Failure
This kind of failure causes a rock mass to slide along two intersecting
discontinuities. This mode of failure needs the dip angle of at least one joint
intersection to be greater than the angle of friction of the joint surface. Favorable
lithology for the development of wedge failure includes inclined bedding,
foliation and well defined cleavages. Rocks such as Shale, limestones and slate
are more prone to this kind of failure due to its internal form.

Having said that, certain structural conditions are also necessary for the
propagation of wedge failure. The
conditions are as follows:
 The plunge line of the intersection should be greater than the friction angle of
the slope
 The line of intersection should ‘daylight’ on the slope. This means that the dip
angle of the intersection should be less than the dip angle of the slope.
Wedge failures could occur very rapidly in a matter of seconds or it could
happen slowly and gradually over a period of several months. The size of the
 wedge could be a few cubic meters to enormous landslides that could cause a
large scaled natural disaster

In civil engineering, one of the main objectives in slope design is to

identify the unstable wedges and develop scientific methods to support it.

 Toppling Failure
Toppling failure occurs due to steep discontinuities in the rock which
eventually leads to slippage of the layers and the outward and downward
movement of a column of rock. Here the column of rock rotates about a fixed
point at the base of the slope. This toppling action is due to the column’s
center of gravity lying outside the base dimensions.

 Toppling Failure
Prerequisites for toppling failure include closely spaced jointed rock mass
with steep discontinuities dipping away from the slope face. Sometimes the removal
of an overburden load, that was previously imparting constraining stresses in the
rock structure, could instigate toppling.
Rock fall

Rock Fall – *Rock Failure

In this type of failure, a rock mass of any size is detached from a steep slope or cliff where
there is very little shear resistance. One detached, it descends mostly by air and could cause
significant damage. It could dislodge and collide with other rocks in its trajectory, further
initiating other falls and landslides. Rock falls are usually initiated by a change in the forces
acting on the rock. This is triggered by climatic or biologic events such as rainfall. Rainwater
infiltration causes an increase in the pore water pressure. Heavy rains could also erode the
surrounding materials, releasing constraining pressure on the rock. Chemical degradation or
weathering gives rise to the same effect

 Stabilization and Protection Methods

Stabilization of slopes is very important and hence the expenditure on these
programs is justified as unstable slopes can be hazardous. Slope engineering gives little
space to cut corners to save cost. Factor of safety is raised for slopes near highways,
railway tracks and other important structures through various stabilization methods.
Selection of suitable method depends not only the technical feasibility but on the cost
and ease of installation. Another important requirement is for the stabilization to be
effective over a long period of time.

Slope Mesh Installation

There are some methods that reduce the driving force behind slope failure, like pore water
pressure. Drainage is provided to reduce this pressure and reduce the likelihood of slope
failure. Providing drainage is less expense than support stabilization techniques when it
comes to covering large slopes. Excavation or removal of the upper portion of the slope is
another way to provide stability. Stability of all slope types depends on height of the slope.
Height is a key parameter that dictates the stability of slopes. Hence, unloading the crest
reduces the driving force of slope failure.
There are other methods that use support systems and reinforcements to provide stability.
Lastly, there are protection techniques, usually employed where there is high risk of rock
falls or landslides and where stabilization is insufficient or not feasible.
Below are some of these methods:

 Rock Bolts-installed across failure surfaces. This can be used for smaller
failure planes or smaller rock masses.
 Cables-installed across failure surfaces to increase its strength. These can be
used for large rocks as cables have higher strength than rock bolts
 Dowels-these are reinforcement bars or blocks of reinforced concrete that is
installed at the toe of the unstable blocks so as to give passive support. The
shear and bending strength of reinforced steel is leveraged to provide this
kind of support.
 Retaining Walls– these are usually reinforced concrete structures constructed
at the toe of the slopes. This gives a kind of passive resistance against sliding.
 Fences-these can be used to intercept rocks rolling down slopes with an
angle less than 40 degrees. Fences may be inadequate for larger rock masses
and it may not be a good method to counter rocks falling at greater angles.
 However, when designed to take sufficient load strong steel fences can
provide some restraint compared to other types of fences.
 Rock shed– In areas where hazard from rock fall is frequent but stabilization
is not feasible, rock sheds provide good protection for highways. Tunnel is
also another option to circumvent the hazards of unstable slopes.
Rotational Failure
Sliding of a material along a curved surface is called rotational failure. There are two types
of rotational failure, namely circular and non-circular. In circular failure, the mechanical
properties of the slope are assumed to be homogenous and the particles in the soil or rock
mass are very small when compared to the size of the slope.

o Images:

o
o Slope Failure
 
o Causes of slope instability

 Images of slope protection



o By concreting

Concreting by Benching
By shotcreting

By vegetation
Slope protection using canvas

By geotextiles
By retaining walls

By Gabion