• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.339-348
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• 2012

The slope stability analysis is usually done using the methods of calculation to rupture. The problem lies in determining the critical failure surface and the corresponding factor of safety (FOS). To evaluate the slope stability by a method of limit equilibrium, there are linear and nonlinear methods. The linear methods are direct methods of calculation of FOS but nonlinear methods require an iterative process. The nonlinear simplified Bishop method's is popular because it can quickly calculate FOS for different slopes. This paper concerns the use of inverse analysis by genetic algorithm (GA) to find out the factor of safety for the slopes using the Bishop simplified method. The analysis is formulated to solve the nonlinear equilibrium equation and find the critical failure surface and the corresponding safety factor. The results obtained by this approach compared with those available in literature illustrate the effectiveness of this inverse method.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.179-190
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• 2015

An experimental program has been carried out to investigate the effect of edge-slope on compressive strength of concrete specimens. In this study, effect of such slope was investigated by testing 100 standard cylinder specimens and 40 standard cubes. When molds are put on a slanted place, wet concrete starts to flow through the open end of mold. It keeps flowing until it reaches to a parallel surface with the place over which it was placed. That creates a sloped surface over the loading area. Experimental results revealed significant relationships between failure loads and slope of loading surface for cylinders. Angled cracks occurred in sloped cylinder specimens. Tension cracks occurred in cube specimens. Fracture mechanisms were also evaluated by using finite element analyses approach. Experiments yielded an exponential curve with bandwidth for cylinders. Average value of curve is $y={\frac{\pi}{2}}e^{-cf}$ between slope and compressive strength. Inclination is much effective parameter for cylinders than cubes.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.3C
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• pp.113-120
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• 2012

An actual slope failure was analyzed in residual soils at Jinju. Due to rainfall infiltration, the safety factor decreases in the unsaturated layers, since the effective stress and shear strength decrease. In this study, the effective stress is based on suction stress using soil water retention curve. Unsaturated properties were evaluated on soil water retention curve, hydraulic conductivity and shear strength with samples from the site. After infiltration analysis of unsaturated flow under the actual rainfall, the distribution of pore water pressure could be calculated in the slope layers. In the stress field of finite elements, an elastic analysis calculated total stress distribution in the layers and also shear stresses on the slip surface using elastic model. On the slip surface, suction stress and effective stress evaluated the shear strength. As a result, the factor of safety was calculated due to rainfall, which could simulate the actual slope failure. In particular, it was found that the suction stress increases and both the effective stress and the shear strength decrease simultaneously on the slip surface.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.181-194
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• 2019

Due to the seepage of groundwater, the resisting force of slopes decreases and the sliding force increases, resulting in significantly reduced slope stability. The instability of most natural slopes is closely related to the influence of groundwater. Therefore, it is important to study slope stability under groundwater seepage conditions. Thus, using a simplified seepage model of groundwater combined with the analysis of stresses on the slip surface, the limit equilibrium (LE) analytical solutions for two- and three-dimensional slope stability under groundwater seepage are deduced in this work. Meanwhile, the general nonlinear Mohr-Coulomb (M-C) strength criterion is adopted to describe the shear failure of a slope. By comparing the results with the traditional LE methods on slope examples, the feasibility of the proposed method is verified. In contrast to traditional LE methods, the proposed method is more suitable for analyzing slope stability under complex conditions. In addition, to facilitate the optimization of drainage design in the slope, stability charts are drawn for slopes with different groundwater tables. Furthermore, the study concluded that: (1) when the hydraulic gradient of groundwater is small, the effect on slope stability is also small for a change in the groundwater table; and (2) compared with a slope without a groundwater table, a slope with a groundwater table has a larger failure range under groundwater seepage.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.439-452
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• 2022

A forecast of slope behavior during catastrophic events, such as earthquakes is crucial to recognize the risk of slope failure. This paper endeavors to eliminate the significant supposition of predefined slip surfaces in the slope stability analysis, which questions the relevance of simple conventional methods under seismic conditions. To overcome such limitations, a methodology dependent on the slip line hypothesis, which permits an automatic generation of slip surfaces, is embraced to trace the extreme slope face under static and seismic conditions. The effect of earthquakes is considered using the pseudo-static approach. The current outcomes developed from a parametric study endorse a non-linear slope surface as the extreme profile, which is in accordance with the geomorphological aspect of slopes. The proposed methodology is compared with the finite element limit analysis to ensure credibility. Through the design charts obtained from the current investigation, the stability of slopes can be assessed under seismic conditions. It can be observed that the extreme slope profile demands a flat configuration to endure the condition of the limiting equilibrium at a higher level of seismicity. However, a concurrent enhancement in the shear strength of the slope medium suppresses this tendency by offering greater resistance to the seismic inertial forces induced in the medium. Unlike the traditional linear slopes, the extreme slope profiles mostly exhibit a steeper layout over a significant part of the slope height, thus ensuring a more optimized solution to the slope stability problem. Further, the susceptibility of the Longnan slope failure in the Huining-Wudu seismic belt is predicted using the current plasticity approach, which is found to be in close agreement with a case study reported in the literature. Finally, the concept of equivalent single or multi-tiered planar slopes is explored through an example problem, which exhibits the appropriateness of the proposed non-linear slope geometry under actual field conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.137-146
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• 2005

299 railroad slopes were investigated and the failure characteristics and reinforcement patterns were analyzed. Stability analyses on the 14 cut-off soil slopes were carried out. Surficial failures were predicted by infinite slope analyses assuming the temporarily perched ground water table at soil surface during rainfall period. Limit equilibrium analyses were also carried out and the influences of rainfall infiltration on the slope stabilities were taken Into account by seepage analyses using finite element method and by assuming ground water tables to be located adjacent to soil surface. The adequacy of those analyses was evaluated by comparing the slope failure characteristics between analysis results and the past failure records. From the comparison results, it was deduced that the limit equilibrium analyses were not appropriate to estimate the shallow failure that occurred at most of the railroad cut-off soil slopes. For the better estimation of the surficial failure, not only the increase of pore-water pressure (reduction of matric suction), but also the influence of water flows over slope surface which erode soil mass, should be evaluated and considered.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.88 no.2
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• pp.240-248
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• 1999

On the basis of data obtained from five forest roads collapsed due to a heavy rainfall of 1995 in Chunchon, Kangwon-do, this study was carried out to evaluate and predict the fill slope failure of forest roads with four factors of forest road structure and those of location condition by using Quantification theory(II). The results were summarized as follows ; In the structure factors of forest road, the fill slope failure was mainly occurred in longitudinal gradients less than $2^{\circ}$ or more than $4^{\circ}$, distance of surface-flow longer than 80m, fill slope length greater than 6m, and fill slope gradients steeper than $35^{\circ}$. In the factors of location condition, the failure was mainly occurred in ridge portion of road position, weathered rock and soft rock of constituent material, slope gradients in the range from $35^{\circ}$ to $45^{\circ}$, and concave and convex of longitudinal slope forms. The priority order for factors influencing on fill slope failure was ranked by fill slope length, constituent material, road position, and so on. And the rate of correct discrimination by analysis of fill slope failure was estimated at the high prediction of 86.5%.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.285-301
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• 2023

During the construction of E75 highway through Grdelica gorge in Serbia, a major failure occurred in the zone of reinforced rock slope. Excavation was performed in highly anisotropic Paleozoic schist rock formation. The reinforcement consisted of the two rows of micropile wall with pre-stressed anchors. Forces in anchors were monitored with load cells while benchmarks were installed for superficial displacement measurements. The aim of the study is to investigate possible causes of instability considering different probability distributions of the strength of discontinuities and anchor bond strength by applying different optimization techniques for finding the critical failure surface. Even though the deterministic safety factor value is close to unity, the probability of failure is governed by variability of shear strength of anisotropic planes and optimization method used for locating the critical sliding surface. The Cuckoo search technique produces higher failure probabilities compared to the others. Depending on the assigned statistical distribution of input parameters, various performance functions of the factor of safety are obtained. The probability of failure is insensitive to the variation of bond strength. Different sampling techniques should yield similar results considering that the sufficient number of safety factor evaluations is chosen to achieve converged solution.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.255-274
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• 2014

The target of this study is large scale rock slope collapsed by around 7 pm on August, 2012, which is located at ${\bigcirc}{\bigcirc}$ limestone quarries of Gangneung city, Gangwondo. The slope prior to the collapse is formed as the height of about 200 m and the average inclination of $45^{\circ}$. The estimated amount of the collapse is about $1,500,000m^3$ with respect to the slope after the collapse. Geotechnical and field investigations such as boring, geophysical prospecting, surface geological survey, geological lineaments, borehole imaging, metric 3D imaging, experimental and field test, mining work by year, and daily rainfall were performed to find the cause of rock slope failure. Various analyzes using slope mass rating, stereonet projection, limit equilibrium method, continuum and non-continuum model were conducted to check of the stability of the slope. It is expected that the cause of slope failure from the results of various analysis and survey is due to the combined factors such as topography, rainfall, rock type and quality, discontinuities, geo-structural characteristics as the limestone cavity and fault zones, but the failure of slope in case of the analysis without the limestone cavity is not occurred. Safe factor of 0.66 was obtained from continuum analysis of the slope considering the limestone cavity, so the ultimate causes of slope failure is considered to be due to the influence of limestone cavity developed along fault zone.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.53-63
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• 2023

Rock disturbance caused by blasting and stress relaxation is commonly observed during excavation. As the distance from the source of disturbance increases, the degree of disturbance decreases, and rock at a large depth does not experience disturbance. However, in stability analyses, a single value of disturbance is often applied to the entire rock mass, which leads to underestimated results. In this study, this modeling mistake is addressed by considering realistically varying rock disturbance. The safety of infinite slopes in a disturbed rock mass with a strength governed by the Hoek-Brown failure criterion is investigated based on the kinematic approach of limit analysis. The maximum disturbance is assigned to the outermost slope face because it is directly exposed to blasting damage and dilation, and the disturbance progressively decays with distance in the rock mass. The safety analysis results indicate that the assumption of uniform disturbance in the entire rock mass leads to underestimation of the rock strength and safety on infinite rock slopes. A critical slip surface appears to be within the disturbed rock layer as well as the interface between the disturbed upper rock and undisturbed lower rock.