CHAPTER FIVE

SLOPE STABILITY OF SOILS

1
 5. Introduction
 The term slope refers to any natural or manmade earth mass,

whose surface forms an angle with the horizontal.

 hills and mountains, river banks, etc. are common examples of

natural slopes.
 Examples of manmade slopes include fills, such as
embankments, earth dams, levees; or cuts, such as highway and
railway cuts, canal banks, foundations excavations and trenches.
 Natural forces (wind, rain, earthquake, etc.) change the natural

topography often creating unstable slopes.

2
 … Introduction
 Failure of natural slopes (landslides) and manmade slopes have

resulted in much death and destruction.

 In assessing the stability of slopes, geotechnical engineers have to

pay particular attention to:

 geology, drainage, groundwater, and the shear strength of the

soils.
 The most common slope stability analysis methods are based on

simplifying assumptions and the design of a stable slope relies

heavily on experience and careful site investigation.

3
 … Introduction

4
 … Introduction

5
 Definitions of Key Terms
 Slip plane or failure plane or slip surface or failure surface is

the surface of sliding.

 Sliding mass is the mass of soil within the slip plane and the

ground surface.

 Slope angle (or simply slope) is the angle of inclination of a slope

to the horizontal. The slope angle is usually referred to as a ratio,

for example, 2:1 (horizontal: vertical)

6
 5.1. Types of Slope Failure
 Failure of a slope along a weak zone of soil is called a translational slide

(Fig. 5.1a). are common in coarse-grained soils.

 A common type of failure in homogeneous fine-grained soils is a rotational

slide. Three types of rotational slides often occur.

1. base slide: occurs by an arc enclosing the whole slope. A soft soil layer
resting on a stiff layer of soil is prone to base failure (Fig. 5. 1b).

2. toe slide: whereby the failure surface passes through the toe of the slope
(Fig. 5.1 c).

3. slope slide: whereby the failure surface passes through the slope (Fig. 5.1
d).
7
 A flow slide occurs when internal and external conditions force a

soil to behave like a viscous fluid and flow down even shallow
slopes, spreading out in several directions (Fig. 5.1 e).
 The failure surface is ill defined in flow slides.

 Multiple failure surfaces usually occur and change continuously

as flow proceeds.
 Flow slides can occur in dry and wet soils.

 Block or wedge slides occur when a soil mass is shattered along

joints, seams, fissures, and weak zones by forces emanating from

adjacent soils. The shattered mass moves as blocks and wedges
down the slope
8
 Figure 5.1: Some types of slope failure

9
  Slope failures depend on the:
 soil type,
 soil stratification,
 groundwater,
 seepage, and
 slope geometry.

10
 5.2. Some Causes of Slope Failure
 Slope failures are caused in general by natural forces, human

mismanagement and activities.

 As shown in Fig. 5.2, some of the most common causes of slope

failures are:

 erosion,

 rainfall,

 earthquake,

 geological features,

 external loading,

11 construction activities (ex. excavation & fill), reservoir rapid

 Figure 5.2: Some causes of slope failure

12
 … Some causes of slope failure

13 ASTU/Soil Mechanics-II
5.3. Slope Stability Analysis
Two-Dimensional Slope Stability Analysis

 Slope stability can be analysed using one or more of the following:

 Limit Equilibrium Method,

 Limit Analysis,
 Finite Difference Method, And
 Finite Element Method

 Limit Equilibrium is the most widely used method for stability analysis.

 In the following sections, we will learn some of the commonly used

slope stability analysis methods that are based on the limit equilibrium
14
 Infinite Slopes and Finite Slopes
 The slopes whether natural or artificial may be

Infinite slopes or
Finite slopes

 The term infinite slope is used to designate a constant slope of

infinite extent.

 The long slope of the face of a mountain is an example of this

type, whereas finite slopes are limited in extent.

 The slopes of embankments and earth dams are examples of finite

slopes. The slope length depends on the height of the dam or

15 embankment.
 …Infinite Slopes and Finite Slopes

16 ASTU/Soil Mechanics-II
5.1. Stability Analysis of Infinite Slopes
 Infinite slopes have dimensions that extend over great distances.

 In practice, the infinite slope mechanism is applied to the case

when a soft material of very long length with constant slope may
slide on a hard material (e.g. rock) having the same slope.

 Let’s consider a clean, homogeneous soil of infinite slope αs as

shown in Figure 5.3.

17
18
Figure 5.3: Forces on a slice of soil in an infinite slope.
 … Stability Analysis of Infinite Slopes
 To use limit equilibrium method, we must first speculate on a

failure of slip mechanism.

 We will assume the slip would occur on a plane parallel to the

slope. If we consider a slice of soil between the surface of the soil

and the slip plane, we can draw a free-body diagram of the slice as
shown in Figure 5.3.

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  The forces acting on the slice per unit thickness are

 the weight

 the Shear forces and on the sides,

 the Normal forces and on the sides,

 the Normal forces on the slip plane,
 the Mobilised Shear Resistance of the soil on the slip
plane,
 We will assume that forces that provoke failure are positive.

 If Seepage is present, a seepage force develops, where is the

hydraulic gradient.
 For a uniform slope of infinite extent, and .

20
 To continue with the limit equilibrium method, we must now use

the equilibrium equations to solve the problem.

 The general objective of infinite slope stability analysis is to

determine either the critical slope or critical height, or

alternatively, the Factor of Safety of the slope.

21
 5.5.1 Factor of Safety
 The factor of safety of a slope is defined as the ratio of the

available shear strength, τf, to the minimum shear strength

required to maintain stability (which is equal to the mobilized
shear stress on the failure surface) τm, that is:

 The shear strength of the soil is governed by the Mohr-Coulomb

failure criterion.

22 ASTU/Soil Mechanics-II
 Stability of Infinite Slopes in ϕu=0, Cu Soil
 For the ϕu=0, cu Soil, the Mohr-Coulomb shear strength is given
by:
 f  cu

 From statics and using Figure 5.3

N  W cos  s T  W sin  s
and

 The shear stress per unit length on the slip plane is given by:
T W sin  s cos  s
m  
l b
bz
m  sin  s cos  s  z sin  s cos  s
b
23
 Stability of Infinite Slopes in ϕu=0, Cu Soil
 Factor of safety is then,
cu 2cu
FS  
z sin  s cos  s z sin( 2 s )

 At limit equilibrium, FS = 1. Therefore, the critical slope is

2cu
c  1
2 sin 1
(
z )

and the critical depth is:

2c u
zc 
 sin( 2 s )

24
 Stability of Infinite Slopes in c’-ϕ’ soil – with no seepage
 For a c’, soil, the Mohr-Coulomb shear strength is given by:

 f  c'   n' tan  '

 The factor of safety FS is then:

c'   n' tan  ' c'  n' tan  '

FS   
m m m
 The normal and shear stresses per unit length at the failure plane in
reference to figure are given by:

N
 'n  and T
l m 
l

25
…Stability of Infinite Slopes in c’-ϕ’ soil – with no seepage
 For a slope without seepage, Js=0. From above Equation we get:

c' W ' cos  s tan  '

FS  
z sin  s cos  s W sin  s
c' tan  '
 
z sin  s cos  s tan  s

 At limit equilibrium FS = 1. Therefore, the critical depth zc is

given by
c'  sec 2  s 
z c   
  tan  s  tan  ' 

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 … Stability of Infinite Slopes in c’-ϕ’ soil – with no seepage

 For the case where , the factor of safety is always greater than, there

is no limiting value for the depth z, and at an infinite depth, the

factor of safety approaches to . For a coarse-grained soil with c’ = 0,
becomes: tan  '
FS 
tan  s

  '
 At limit equilibrium FS = 1. Therefore, the critical slope angle is:
c

 The implication of this equation is that the maximum slope angle of

a coarse-grained soil with c’ = 0, cannot exceed φ.

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 In other words, the case c’ = 0 and αs>φ is always unstable and

can not be applied to practical situations

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 Stability of Infinite Slopes in c’-ϕ’ soil –steady state seepage
We will now consider groundwater at the ground surface and assume
that seepage is parallel to the slope. The seepage force is:
J s  i w bz i  sin  s
Since seepage is parallel to the slope, From statics

T  W ' sin  s  J s
  ' bz sin  s   w bz sin  s  ( ' w )bz sin  s
  sat bz sin  s

 Therefore, the shear stress at the slip plane is:

T  sat bz sin  s cos  s

m     sat z sin  s cos  s
l b
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 … Stability of Infinite Slopes in c’-ϕ’ soil –steady state
seepage
 From the definition of factor of safety , we get:

c'  ' bz cos  s tan  '

FS  
 sat z sin  s cos  s  sat zb cos  s tan  s
(

c'  ' tan  '

  
 sat z sin  s cos  s  sat tan  s

 At limit equilibrium, FS=1. Therefore, the critical height is:

c' csc 2  s
zc 
 tan  s   ' tan  '
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… Stability of Infinite Slopes in c’-ϕ’ soil –steady state seepage
 At infinite depth the factor of safety becomes:

 ' tan  '

FS  
 sat tan  s

 The equation can also be used for calculating the factor of safety for a

coarse-grained soil with c’ = 0. At limit equilibrium FS = 1, and hence,

the critical slope for a coarse-grained soil with c’ = 0 is given by:
'
tan  s  tan 
 sat

31
… Stability of Infinite Slopes in c’-ϕ’ soil –steady state seepage

 For most soils,  '  sat  1

2

 Thus, seepage parallel to the slope reduces the limiting slope of a

clean, coarse-grained soil by about one-half.

 If the groundwater level is not at the ground surface, weighted

average unit weights have to be used.

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 5.2 Rotational Slope Failure

 The infinite slope failure mechanism is reasonable for infinitely

long and homogeneous slopes made of coarse-grained soils, where

the failure plane is assumed to be parallel to the ground surface.

 But in many practical problems slopes have been observed to fail

through a rotational mechanism of finite extent.

 As shown in Fig. (5.2), rotational failure mechanism involves the

failure of a soil mass on a circular or non-circular failure surface.

 In the following sections, we will continue to use the limit

33
equilibrium method assuming a circular slip surface.
ASTU/Soil Mechanics-II
 Basic Analysis Approach for Rotational Failure Surface

Limit Equilibrium:
1) Assume some circular (or other shape) failure surface
2) Calculate driving forces (moment about O)
3) Calculate resisting forces (moment about O)
Issues:
• Where is the center of mass?
• How does resistance vary along surface?
• How does normal stress vary along surface?
• Water table and seepage forces?
• Soil layering?
• More complex geometry?
35
 i) Stability of Slopes in cu, ϕu = 0 soil–circular failure
surfaces
 The simplest circular analysis is based on the assumption that a

rigid, cylindrical block will fail by rotation about its center and that
the shear strength along the failure surface is defined by the
undrained strength cu.

 Figure 5.3 shows a slope of height H and angle αs

 The trial circular failure surface is defined by its center C, radius R

and central angle θ.

 The weight of the sliding block acts at a distance d from the center.

36
 Figure 4.4: Slope failure in cu, ϕu=0

37 ASTU/Soil Mechanics-II
Stability of Slopes in cu, ϕu = 0 soil–circular failure surfaces

 Taking moments of the forces about the center of the circular arc, we

have: cu LR cu R 2 0 
FS   
Wd Wd 180 0

Where: L is the length of the circular arc, W is the weight of the sliding
mass and d is the horizontal distance between the circle center,
C, and the centroid of the sliding mass.

 If cu varies along
2 the 0failure surface
0 then: 0
R (cu11  cu 2 2  ...  cun n ) 
FS  
Wd 180 0

38
 Effect of Tension Cracks
 Tension cracks may develop from the upper ground surface to a

depth z0 that can be estimated using Eqn.:

2c'
z0 
 ' ka

 The effect of the tension crack can be taken into account by

assuming that the trial failure surface terminates at the depth z0,
thereby reducing the weight W and central angle θ
 Any external water pressure in the crack creates a horizontal force

that must be included in equilibrium considerations.

39
 ii) Stability of Slopes in c’-ϕ’ soil – Method of Slices
 The stability of a slope in a c’- ϕ’ soil is usually analysed by

discretizing the mass of the failure slope into smaller slices and
treating each individual slice as a unique sliding block.
 This technique is called the method of slices.

 In the method of slices, the soil mass above a trial failure circle is

divided into a series of vertical slices of width b as shown in Fig.

 For each slice:-

 its base is assumed to be a straight line defined by its angle of

inclination θ with the horizontal

40
 its height h is measured along the centerline of the slice.
 Method of Slices (General)
• Assume some failure surface
• Discretize failure surface into smaller elements (slices)
• Bottom of each slice passes through one type of material
• Curved bottom of each slice approximated as chord
• More slices = more refined solution
• 10-40 slices typically sufficient (less for hand solutions)
• Calculate factor of safety for each slice (strength/stress) and overall
factor of
safety
• Find lowest FS for different failure surfaces
41
 Side forces make the problem statically indeterminate

42 ASTU/Soil Mechanics-II
 Figure : Slice discretization and slice forces in a sliding mass
43
44 Figure 4.6: a) Method of slices in c’-ϕ soil,
b) Forces acting on a slice.
The forces acting on a slice shown in Fig. (b) are:
 W = total weight of the slice = γ×h×b
 N = total normal force at the base = N’ + U, where N’ is the effective total
normal force and U = ul is the force due to the pore water pressure at the
midpoint of the base length l.

 T = the mobilized shear force at the base = τm x l, where τm is the

minimum shear stress required to maintain equilibrium and is equal to the
shear strength divided by the factor of safety: τm = τf /FS.

 X1, X2 = shear forces on sides of the slice and E1, E2 = normal forces on
sides the slice. The sum of the moments of the inter slice or side forces
about the canter C is zero.
45
 Thus, for moment equilibrium about the center C (note the normal
forces pass through the center):
in i n i n ( f l ) i i n

 T R  R (
i 1
i
i 1
m l )  R
i 1 FS
  (W sin  ) R
i 1
i

where n is the total number of slices. Replacing by the Mohr-Coulomb

shear strength, we obtain:

 (c' 
i n i n

i 1
'
n tan  ' )l i  (c' l  N ' tan  ' )
i 1
i
FS  i n
 in

 (W sin  )
i 1
i  (W sin  )
i 1
i

46
 The term c’l may be replaced by c’b/cos θ

 For uniform c’, the algebraic summation of c’l is replaced by c’L,

where L is the length of the circular arc.

 The values of N’ must be determined from the force equilibrium

equations. However, this problem is statically indeterminate – because

we have six unknown variables for each slice but only three
equilibrium equations. Therefore some simplifying assumptions have
to be made.
 In this chapter two common methods that apply different simplifying

methods will be discussed.

 These methods are called the Fellenius method and Bishop simplified

47 method.
Slope Analysis Methods Based on Limit Equilibrium

“OMS”

“Modified
Bishop’s”
 Methods of Investigation Slope Stability
Contemporary methods of investigation are based on:
 assuming a slip surface and a center about which it rotates

 studying the equilibrium of the forces acting on this surface

 repeating the process until the worst slip surface is found . The worst

slip surface which yields the lowest factor of safety.

Restoring Moment
FS 
Disturbing Moment

49
 Fellenius or Ordinary or Swedish Method
 The ordinary or Swedish method of slices was introduced by

Fellenius.

 This method assumes that for each slice, the interslice forces X1=X2

and E1=E2.

 Based on this assumption and from statics, the forces normal to

N slice
each W cosare given
 N ' by:
 ul  N '  W cos   ul

 Substituting N’ into Eqn. above, we obtain:

i n

 (c' l  (W cos  ul ) tan  ' )

i 1
i
FS  i n

50
 (W sin  )
i 1
i
For convenience, the force due to pore water is expressed as a function
of W:
ui bi
ru 
Wi

 Where rui is

n
called the pore water pressure ratio. Consequently, we
have:  (c' l  W (cos   ru sec  ) tan  ' )i
FS  i 1 i n

 (W sin  ) i
i 1

 The term ru is dimensionless because the term represents the weight

of water rwith
ub w  h b  h
wFurthermore,
w w r can be simplified as
u  a 
volume of .  u
W hb h
51
follows
 … Fellenius or Ordinary or Swedish Method
 The Ordinary method (OM) of slices satisfies the moment

equilibrium for a circular slip surface, but neglects both the inter
slice normal and shear forces.
 The advantage of this method is its simplicity in solving the FOS,

since the equation does not require an iteration process.

52
 … Fellenius or Ordinary or Swedish Method

53 ASTU/Soil Mechanics-II
… Fellenius or Ordinary or Swedish Method
 The method of slices

Considering moments about O, the sum of the moments of the shear

forces T on the failure arc AC must be equal the moment of the weight
of the soil mass ABCD.

using

54 ASTU/Soil Mechanics-II
 Bishop Simplified Method
 This method assumes that for each slice X1=X2 but E1≠ E2.

 Assumes that resultant of side forces on each slice act in horizontal

direction and therefore vertical side force components cancel each

other
 These assumptions are considered to make this method more

accurate than the Swedish method.

 An increase of 5% to 20% in the factor of safety over the Swedish

method is usually obtained.

55
 Bishop Simplified Method

Referring to Figure, and writing the

force equilibrium in vertical direction
(in order to eliminate E1 and E2), the
following equation for N’ can be
found:W  ul cos   c' l sin 
N'  FS
sin  tan  '
cos  
FS

56
 … Bishop Simplified Method
 In addition to the force in the vertical direction, Bishop Simplified

method also satisfies the overall moment equilibrium about the center
of the circle as expressed in Eqn.

 Putting l = b/cos θ and ub=ruW , and substituting Eqn. N‘ into Eqn.,

we obtain: 1 in
 c' b  W (1  ru ) tan  ' 
FS  i  n  
i 1  m

i
 (
i 1
W sin  ) i


sin  tan  ' This Equation is non-linear in

Where m  cos  
FS FS (that is FS appears on both
sides of the equations) and is
solved by iteration.
57
 An initial value of FS is guessed (slightly greater than FS obtained

by Fellenius’ method) and substituted to FS equation to compute a

new value for FS.
 This procedure is repeated until the difference between the assumed

and computed values is negligible.

 Convergence is normally rapid and only a few iterations are

required.
 The procedure is repeated for number of trial circles to locate

the critical failure surface with the lowest factor of safety.

58