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Tension Crack
1 Introduction
A tension crack may develop in a slope when the inclination angle of the slip surface is steep and when
the sliding mass is sitting on a weak foundation material. Considering the tension crack will eliminate the
negative normal generated at the base of a slice, as a result, it gives more reasonable solution, and may
improve convergence in some cases. The purpose of this example is to illustrate the various options in
modeling the presence of a tension crack. Features of this simulation include:
24
22
20
18
Elevation (m)
16
14 Name: Embankment
Model: MohrCoulomb
12 Weight: 20 kN/m
Cohesion: 15 kPa
Phi: 30
10
8
6
4
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
Distance (m)
Figure 2 Critical slip surface and factor of safety with no tension crack
Figure 4 Critical slip surface and factor of safety with a tension crack angle
As depicted in Figure 4, a tension crack has developed near the crest. The slip surface extended up
vertically when the base angle of the slip surface reaches 115o. Figure 5 shows the free body diagram and
the force polygon. Note that the base normal force is not in tension anymore (pointing towards the slice
base).
Figure 6 Critical slip surface and factor of safety with a tension crack angle
6 Closing
It is a good practice to always examine the free body diagram and force polygon of the slices near the
crest of the slope. When the base normal force is in tension (pointing away from the slice base), unless
you are modeling a rock in which some tension may be possible, you may want to control the negative
normal with a tension crack.