A Study on the Variation of Ground Safety Factor by Earthworks

The construction of roads, tunnels, and bridges results in changes to the local terrain that may influence the ground safety factor, which represents the stability of geotechnical structures. In this study, we assessed construction sites that had collapsed as a result of terrain change, and then simulated variation in the ground safety factor with respect to terrain change caused by road construction. We assumed steep slopes to simulate changes in terrain in a mountainous area and assumed that earthworks took place for road construction by cutting a platform into the slope and altering the slope angle of the terrain both above and below the road. We calculated values of the ground safety factor through a stability analysis of the slope both above and below the road, and examined the variation in the safety factor of the above- and below-road slopes with respect to changes in road width. We found that if the slope angle was the same above and below the road, then the change in the ground safety factor during/after road construction occurred in the slope below the road, and if the slope angle above the road differed from that below, then the change occurred in both the above- and below-road slopes. Furthermore, the ground safety factor was essentially constant for road widths exceeding 2-6 m, depending on both above- and below-road slope angle. The findings of this study can be used to guide the management of construction sites and to assess changes in ground stability during road construction work, particularly in the early stages of earthworks, when the road width is narrow.