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Mechanics
Hamed Niroumand1, Khairul Anuar Kassim1, Amin Ghafooripour2,
Ramli Nazir1, Sayyed Yaghoub Zolfeghari Far1
1
ABSTRACT
Slope failures are disasters that happen all around the world. Occurrence of slope failures depends
on number of factors. To safeguard the safety of the public from slope failure hazards, proper
geotechnical input by the engineers with geotechnical experience is very important. The
geotechnical input includes four important stages namely, planning, design, construction and
maintenance. Whenever failures occur, engineers are responsible to the problems. The paper
observed the assessment of slope failures.
KEYWORDS:
INTRODUCTION
In Malaysia, the construction of residential buildings on hill-site has increased tremendously due
to lack of suitable flat land and other factors like beautiful scenery, fresh air, exclusiveness, etc.
However, the collapse of Block 1 of Highland Towers on 11th December 1993; one of the first highrise developments on hill-site in Kuala Lumpur, has worried many people. Safety of building on hillsite is often a topic of discussions among engineers and public. The discussion intensifies each time
after a slope failure being highlighted by media. Slope failures are disasters that happen all around the
world. Occurrence of slope failures depends on number of factors. The understanding of these
contributing factors is essential in any slope failure investigation. Therefore, the knowledge on types
of slope failures, mechanism of slope failures, and causes of slope failures are essential for any slope
design and remedial work.
Slide
Slide can be defined as movement of soil mass, which is parallel to planes of weakness, and
occasionally parallel to slope. Figure 1 shows slide failure. Slides in soil, will have rotational or
translational movement. The behavior of the slide depends mostly on the type of material and whether
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that material is: (a) homogeneous (isotropic) material (similar properties in all directions), as shown in
Figure 2, (2) inhomogeneous (anisotropic) material with planes of weakness, as shown in Figure 3
Figure 1: Slide
slips
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Figure 4: Flow
Figure 5: Slip
Figure 6: Creep
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Slip
Slip is a complex movement of materials on a slope, includes rotational slip. Figure 5 shows slip
failure.
Creep
Creep is defined as gradual movement of slope materials. Figure 6 shows creep failure.
Torrent
Torrent is a sporadic and sudden canalized discharge of water and debris. Figure 7 shows torrent
failure.
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Slopes with lower FOS means the potential of failing are higher then slopes with higher FOS.
Therefore slopes with higher FOS are safer.
The slope is too high or too steep for materials of which it is composed.
The materials are too weak to sustain the slope at its present profile.
The pore water pressures are too high, and thus adversely affect the soil strength.
The materials contain weak inclusions or discontinuities.
The slope is affected adversely by some external influence, for example applied loads
from structures or excavation at or near the toe of the slope.
Many studies have been done to find out the causes of slope failure. Slope failures statistics based
on Lecture Notes for highway Slope Management, IEM/JKR (1997) are given below:
A survey of 322 slope failures revealed that:
89% are cut slopes (54% soil slopes + 11% rock slopes +
24% soil/rock slopes)
8%
are fill slopes
2%
are retaining walls
1%
are natural slopes
Neoh (2001) points out that findings from another survey of 260 case histories about causes of
slope failures are:
90 %
38%
30%
8%
2%
2%
infiltration
seepage
perched water table
wash-out / erosion
rise in main water table
others (pipe leakage etc)
Seldom can a slope failure be attributed to a single definite cause. Slope stability is a wide and
complex subject involving with many geotechnical principles, some of which are very empirical or
statistical in nature and required site verification by experienced engineers during construction.
Factors that have significant impact on slope stability are:
Slope geometry (Height of slope (H), angle of slope (), shape, adjacent and upslope
and down slope topography)
Soil unit weight
Shear strength of soil
Pore water pressure or suction
Geological settings or discontinuity
Research papers and proceedings related to slope failures and slope stability, causes of slope
failures varies. For the purpose of this study, only relevant causes of slope failures in Malaysia are
discuss. These causes include:
Geological Causes
a) Erosion
b) Weathered materials
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c) Weak materials
d) Contrast in permeability
e) Contrast in stiffness
Physical Causes
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
Intense rainfall
Perched water table
Rapid draw-down
Flood
Extreme infiltration
Seepage
Human Causes
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
Prolong and high intensity of rainfall especially during the two monsoon periods every year
allows rainwater infiltrates with ease into a slope and causes saturation at shallow depths in the field
during the service life of a slope. Figure 8 shows the possible hydrological effects of rainfall on
permeable slopes. Some of the rainwater runs off the slope and may cause surface erosion if there is
inadequate surface protection. If soil has high permeability, majority of the water will infiltrates into
the subsoil. This causes the water level in the slope to rise or it may cause perched water table to be
formed above some less permeable boundary (e.g. clay seams). Above the water table, the degree of
saturation of the soil increases thus reduces the soil suction (i.e. negative pore pressure) (Gue & Tan,
2000). Failures in cut slopes of residual soils might be caused by wetting-up process, which
decreases the soil suction and hence the decrease in soil strength. Premchitt, (1985) shows evidence
suggesting that transient rises in groundwater table are responsible for some rain-induced landslides.
Rainfall
Cl
Surface Runoff +
Erosion
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= c + ntan
where,
Failure envelope
c
3
1
Figure 9: Mohr diagram
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of possible remedies are open to engineers. There are many types of slope stabilisations applied in
Malaysia, such as:
Change of geometry
Retaining wall
Geotextile
Soil nailing
Slope drainage
Turfing
Shotcreting
For fill slopes, the common factors influence slope stability or failure are as follows:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Retaining Wall
Retaining wall is a wall built to keep a bank of earth from sliding or water from flooding
(Webster's NewWorld Dictionary,1988). There are many types of retaining walls used in Malaysia.
The common types are as follows:
Gravity Wall
Gravity wall is made of mass concrete and rubble stone with nominal reinforcement near the wall
surface to limit cracks. The stability of gravity walls depends on to the self-weight of the wall. This
type of wall is uneconomic because the large quantity of material is used only for its dead weight.
Figure 10 shows an example of gravity wall.
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Cantiilever Wall
W
Canntilever wall is made of reinforced
r
cooncrete emplloying the baackfill itself is to providee most of
the requuired dead weight. Generrally, minimuum thickness of the walll and base iss within a range from
200 mm
m - 400 mm. Cantilever walls
w
are usu
ually five to six
s meters high. Figure 11
1 shows an example
of cantillever wall.
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Counterfort Wall
W
Couunterfort wall is a cantileever wall strrengthened with
w counterfforts monolitthic with thee back of
the walll slab and base
b
slab as shown in Figure
F
12. Thhe counterfoorts act as tension stiffeeners and
connect the wall slaab and the base to redu
uce the bendding and shhearing stressses. Counterrforts are
normallyy used for high
h
walls wiith heights greater
g
than 8 m. They are
a also usedd for situations where
high lateral pressurees occur, e.gg. where thee backfill is heavily surrcharged. Coounterforts should
s
be
w stem as a continuouus slab. The design
d
shouldd transfer
designedd as cantileveers of T-secttion and the wall
the mainn part of the earth thrustt from the slab to the couunterfort. Thhe wall propportions are similar
s
to
those off the cantilev
ver wall. Thee counterfortts are spacedd at 1/2 to 1//4 of the height of the wall
w (H) ,
dependinng on the waall height. Foor walls greatter than H = 10 m, spacinng may be off the order off 1/2 H .
Figure 12
2: Counterfo
fort Wall
Figure 13
3: Sheet Pille Wall.
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Crib W
Wall
Cribb wall is connstructed by interlocking individual boxes
b
made from pre-cast concrete members.
m
The boxxes are filledd with crushhed stone or other coarsee granular materials
m
to create
c
a freee-draining
structuree. The units are spaced so
s that the fill material iss contained within
w
the crrib, is not aff
ffected by
climatic change and
d acts in connjunction witth the crib work
w
to suppport the retaiined earth. Figure
F
15
shows ann example of crib wall.
Figure 15
5: Crib Walll.
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Gabion Wall
Gabion wall is free-draining walls constructed by filling large baskets with broken stone. The
baskets are made from galvanised steel mesh or woven strips. A typical basket is rectangular with
dimensions of about 1 m x 1 m. Retention is achieved from a combination of the stones weight, and its
interlocking and frictional strength. The wall face is battered at approximately 6 degrees from the
vertical. They are constructed with either a stepped face or a stepped back up to a maximum height of
about 6 m. Due to its durability it is generally used as temporary retaining wall. Figure 16 shows an
example of gabion wall.
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Geotextile
Geotextile is a geosynthetic fabric,either woven or non-woven, applied to either soil surface or
between materials. The purpose of geotextile is to reduce erosion by storm generated water by
providing filtration, separation, or stabilisation properties. Geotextile is used in cut slopes where soil is
composed of weak materials. The function of geotextile is to transfer the excessive shear stress from
weak soil to tension in geotextile. With geotextile, steeper slope can be constructed to gain more space
and thus increase of FOS. Figure 18 shows a type of Geotextile.
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Soil N
Nailing
The main conceppt of soil naiiling is to traansfer the stress into fricttion. Soil naiiling design standards
s
5 -25 below
w horizontal.. Spacing of soil nails
are based on BS 80006. Usually soil nails are installed at 5
m Normal eff
ffective allow
wable tensilee capacity off soil nails iss 2-15 ton. Length
L
of
is usuallly 1.2-2.5 m.
nail requuired beyondd the minimuum slip surfacce to providee the pull outt resistance. The minimuum design
length oof nail is thee greater of the calculatted or distannce from sloope face to slip surface with the
requiredd FOS (Neohh, 2001). Figuure 19 and Fiigure 20 shows soil nailin
ng.
Figure 20:
2 Soil Nailing
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Slope Drainage
From the preceding discussion, it will be seen that control of water must be considered. The main
purpose of surface drains is to collect surface runoff from slope as much as possible and convey away
from slope as fast and as far as possible so as to reduce infiltration and erosion caused by rainfall.
Turfing
Turfing is the process of covering slope surface with turf. Close turfing with cow grass is common
to provide immediate protection. This method is very laboured intensive and usually only applied to
gentle slope (1V: 1.5H) for residual soils.
Shotcreting
Shotcrete is sprayed concrete or mortar. Shotcrete is expensive and is used when slope steep
(>450) and genarally for highly fractured weathered rocks. Typical shotcrete slope protection should
consist of minimum 75 mm to 100 mm thick sprayed cement/sand mixture (1:3) with a layer of wire
mesh to reduce shrinkage and thermal cracking. Adequate subsoil drainage should be provided
especially where water is observed seeping from the surface or where water seepage may be expected
(Neoh, 2001). Figure 21 shows an example of shotcreting.
Maintenance of Slopes
Although lack of maintenance of slopes and retaining walls are not the direct causes to failure.
However, failure to maintain particularly after erosion may propagate and trigger slope failures.
Therefore regular inspection and maintenance of the slopes are necessary (Gue & Tan, 2002).
Awareness alone is not sufficient, engineers and personnel involved in slope maintenance should also
know how to properly carry out the work. A set of standards of good practice slope maintenance is
needed. A good guideline from GEO of Hong Kong like Geoguide 5 Guide to Slope Maintenance
(1995) for engineer and Laymans Guide to Slope Maintenance which is suitable for the layman
should be referred. Geoguide-5 (1995) recommends maintenance inspections be sub-divided into three
categories:
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