• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.71-81
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• 2018

Soils are mostly nonhomogeneous and anisotropic in nature. In this study, nonhomogeneity and anisotropy of soil are taken into consideration by assuming that the cohesion increases with depth linearly and also varies with respect to direction at a particular point. A three-dimensional rotational failure mechanism is adopted, and then a three-dimensional stability analysis of slope is carried out with the failure surface in the shape of a curvilinear cone in virtue of the limit analysis method. A quasistatic approach is used to develop stability charts in nonhomogeneous and anisotropic soils. One can easily read the safety factors from the charts without the need for iterative procedures for safety factors calculation. The charts are of practical importance to prevent a plane failure in excavation slope whether it is physically constrained or not. Then the most suitable location of piles within the reinforced slope in nonhomogeneous and anisotropic soils is explored, as well as the interactions of nonhomogeneous and anisotropic coefficients on pile reinforcement effects. The results indicate that piles are more effective when they are located between the middle and the crest of the slope, and the nonhomogeneous coefficient as well as the anisotropic coefficient will not only influence the most suitable location for piles but also affect the calculated safety factor of existing reinforced slope. In addition, the two coefficients will interact with each other on the effect on slope reinforcement.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.1193-1205
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• 2018

A footing located on slopes possess relatively lower bearing capacity as compared to the footing located on the level ground. The bearing capacity further reduces under seismic loading. The adverse effect of slope inclination and seismic loading on bearing capacity can be minimized by proving sufficient setback distance. Though few earlier studies considered setback distance in their analysis, the range of considered setback distance was very narrow. No study has explored the critical setback distance. An attempt has been made in the present study to comprehensively investigate the effect of setback distance on footing under seismic loading conditions. The pseudo-static method has been incorporated to study the influence of seismic loading. The rate of decrease in seismic bearing capacity with slope inclination become more evident with the increase in embedment depth of footing and angle of shearing resistance of soil. The increase in bearing capacity with setback distance relative to level ground reduces with slope inclination, soil density, embedment depth of footing and seismic acceleration. The critical value of setback distance is found to increase with slope inclination, embedment depth of footing and density of soil. The critical setback distance in seismic case is found to be more than those observed in the static case. The failure mechanisms of footing under seismic loading is presented in detail. The statistical analysis was also performed to develop three equations to predict the critical setback distance, seismic bearing capacity factor ($N_{{\gamma}qs}$) and change in seismic bearing capacity (BCR) with slope geometry, footing depth and seismic loading.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 2007

In Korea, most landslides occurr during the rainy season and have shallow failure planes parallel to the slope. For these types of rainfall-induced failures, the most important factor triggering slope unstability is decrease in the matric suction of unsaturated soils with increasing saturation depth by rainfall infiltration. For this reason, estimation of cumulative infiltration has a significance. In this study, infiltration rate and cumulative infiltration are estimated by using both Mein & Larson model based on Green-Ampt infiltration model and using modified Mein & Larson model to which unsteady rainfall is applied. According to the results, the modified model is more reasonable than Mein & Larson method itself in estimation of infiltration rate and saturation depth because of considering real pending condition.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.43-53
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• 2012

Stability of cut-slope, the orientation and dimension of which are gradually changed, has been analyzed by employing the cross-section method capable of comprehensibly considering the lithological, structural and mechanical characteristics of slope rock. Lithological fragility is investigated by inspecting the drilled core logs and BIPS image has been taken to delineate the rock structure. Engineering properties of drilled-core including the joint shear strength have been also measured. Potential failure modes of cut-slope and failure-induced joints are identified by performing the stereographic projection analysis. Traces of potential failure-induced joints are drawn on the cross-section which depicts the excavated geometry of cut-slope. Considering the distribution of potential plane failure-induced joint traces blocks of plane failure mode are hypothetically formed. The stabilities and required reinforcements of plane failure blocks located at the different excavation depth have been calculated to confirm the applicability of the cross-section method for the optimum cut-slope design.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.387-400
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• 2013

In this study, the slope stability analysis and the landslide hazard assessment in tunnel portal slope were carried out. First, we selected highly vulnerable areas to slope failure using the slope stability analysis and analyzed the slope failure scale. According to analyses results, high vulnerable area to slope failure is located at 485~495 m above sea level. The slope is stable in a dry condition, while it becomes unstable in rainfall condition. The analysis results of slope failure scale show that the depth of slope failure is maximum 2.1 m and the length of slope failure is 18.6 m toward the dip direction of slope. Second, we developed a 3-D simulation program to analyze characteristics of runout behavior of debris flow. The developed program was applied to highly vulnerable areas to slope failure. The result of 3-D simulation shows that debris flow moves toward the central part of the valley with the movement direction of landslide from the upper part to the lower part of the slope. 3-D simulation shows that debris flow moves down to the bottom of mountain slope with a speed of 7.74 m/s and may make damage to the tunnel portal directly after 10 seconds from slope failure.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.71-79
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• 2006

In Korea, most landslides occurred during the rainy season and had a shallow failure plane parallel to the slope. For these types of rainfall-induced failures, the most important factor triggering slope unstability is decrease in the matric suction of unsaturated soils with increasing saturation depth by rainfall infiltration. The saturation depth was readily estimated using modified Green-Ampt model proposed by Chu et al. (Chu Model) at present. But Chu Model involves some problems for application, because water-redistribution phenomena were not effected. So the modified Chu Model (MCGAM) which reflect water redistribution phono mens was developed. The results showed that the MCGAM had a better agreement with measured volumetric water contents than existing Chu Model.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.71-86
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• 2022

In Taiwan, an efficient approach for enhancing the stability of colluvium slopes is the drilled shaft method. For slopes with drilled shafts, the soil arching effect is one of the primary factors influencing slope stability and intertwines to the failure mechanism of the pile-soil system. In this study, the contribution of soil arching effect to slope stability is evaluated using the FEM software (Plaxis 3D) with the built-in strength reduction technique. The result indicates the depth of the failure surface is influenced by the S/D ratio (the distance to the diameter of piles), which can reflect the contribution of the soil arching effect to soil stability. When α (rock inclination angles)=β (slope angles) is considered and the S/D ratio=4, the failure surface of the slope is not significantly influenced by the piles. Overall, the soil arching effect is more significant on α=β, especially for the steep slopes. Additionally, the soil arching effect has been included in the proposed stability charts. The proposed charts were validated through two case studies, including that of the well-known Woo-Wan-Chai field in Taiwan. The differences in safety factor (FoS) values between the referenced literature and this study was approximately 4.9%.

• 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.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.167-178
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• 2019

Open-pit (OP) and underground (UG) mining are usually used to exploit shallow and deep ore deposits, respectively. When mine deposit starts from shallow subsurface and extends to a great depth, sequential use of OP and UG mining is an efficient and economical way to maintain mining productivity. However, a transition from OP to UG mining could induce significant rock movements that cause the slope instability of the open pit. Based on Yanqianshan Iron Mine, which was in the transition from OP to UG mining, a large-scale two-dimensional (2D) model test was built according to the similar theory. Thereafter, the UG mining was carried out to mimic the process of transition from OP to UG mining to disclose the triggered rock movement as well as to assess the associated slope instability. By jointly using three-dimensional (3D) laser scanning, distributed fiber optics, and digital photogrammetry measurement, the deformations, movements and strains of the rock slope during mining were monitored. The obtained data showed that the transition from OP to UG mining led to significant slope movements and deformations that can trigger catastrophic slope failure. The progressive movement of the slope could be divided into three stages: onset of micro-fracture, propagation of tensile cracks, and the overturning and/or sliding of slopes. The failure mode depended on the orientation of structural joints of the rock mass as well as the formation of tension cracks. This study also proved that these non-contact monitoring technologies were valid methods to acquire the interior strain and external deformation with high precision.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.141-154
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• 2001

An experimental study was performed to investigate the effects of levee crest width and the slope steepness on levee break due to overtopping flow. The phenomenon of bank failure can be described in 4 stages. In this study, the magnitudes of breach width, breach depth peak discharge, and scouring shape at the break site were measured, and the result shows that peak discharge will be reduced and breach duration extended by widening the crown width and lessening the levee slope steepness. The breach width was narrower and the breach depth deeper, as the levee crest width become wider or the slope steeper. And, the bed scour depth was deeper and steeper, as the levee crest crest width become narrower or the slope milder.