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RETAINING STRUCTURES
Lecture 2: Analysis of slopes. Limit equilibrium
methods.

Dr. Emre ÇEÇEN

ececen@umt.edu.al

ELEMENTS OF SLOPE STABILITY

ANALYSIS

1. Topography
2. Stratigraphy
3. Material Properties
4. Groundwater
5. Slide Mechanism

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Mechanics of Limit Equilibrium

Procedures
• The factor of safety,
s = available shear strength and = equilibrium shear stress.

• The equilibrium shear stress

• Mohr-Coulomb

c and = cohesion and friction angle,

= total normal stress on the shear plane.

Mechanics of Limit Equilibrium

Procedures

cd and d = developed (mobilized) cohesion and friction angle

c′ and ′ = shear strength parameters in terms of effective stresses,

u = pore water pressure

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Slip surface
• A number of slip surfaces must be assumed to find
the slip surface that produces a minimum factor of
safety.
• The surface with the minimum factor of safety is
termed the critical slip surface.

Equilibrium conditions
(1) Equilibrium of forces in the vertical direction,
(2) Equilibrium of forces in the horizontal direction,
(3) Equilibrium of moments about any point.

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Consider a planar slide whose failure surface is linear

Infinite Slope

S = shear force
N= normal force on the plane
= angle of inclination of the slope and slip plane,
W = weight of the block.

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Infinite Slope

= total unit weight of the soil,

ℓ = distance between the two ends of the block,
z = depth of the shear plane

Infinite Slope

Divide by the area of the plane (ℓ ⋅ 1)

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Infinite Slope

factor of safety for total stresses

factor of safety for effective stresses

Infinite Slope

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Infinite Slope

Infinite Slope

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Infinite Slope

Infinite Slope
For a cohesionless (c = 0, c′ = 0) soil, the factor of safety is
independent of the depth, z, of the slip surface.
For total stresses (or effective stresses with zero pore water pressure)
the equation for the factor of safety becomes;

For effective stresses, if the pore water pressures are proportional to

the depth of the slip plane, the factor of safety is

F = [cot − ru(cot + tan )] tan ′

ru = pore water pressure coefficient, Bishop and Morgenstern (1960).

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Logarithmic Spiral Procedure

The slip surface is assumed to be a Logarithmic Spiral (Frohlich, 1953).
A center point, an initial radius, r0, and a value of d define the spiral

• It fully satisfies static equilibrium.

• For homogeneous slopes, approximates
the most critical potential sliding surface
reasonably well.
• Theoretically is the best limit equilibrium
procedure for analyses of homogeneous
slopes.

Logarithmic Spiral Procedure

For cohesionless (c, c′ = 0) slopes the critical Logarithmic
Spiral that produces the minimum factor of safety has an
infinite radius and the spiral coincides with the face of the
slope.

In this case the Logarithmic Spiral and Infinite Slope

procedures produce identical values for the minimum factor of
safety.

The Logarithmic Spiral equations are

relatively complex for hand calculations
because of the assumed shape of the slip
surface.
Appropriate for computer calculations.

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Swedish Circle ( = ) Method

(Fellenius, 1922)
The driving (overturning) moment

The resisting moment

For equilibrium,

Swedish Circle ( = ) Method

Factor of safety

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Swedish Circle ( = ) Method

If c varies, the circular slip surface is subdivided

into an appropriate number of segments of
length, Δℓi with average strength, ci

Swedish Circle ( = ) Method

a= moment arm, which is difficult

to locate due to odd shape

It is preferrable to divide the total mass

into smaller geometrical shapes (slices)

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Procedures of slices:
Circular slip surfaces
The overturning moment;
the moment arm (ai) can
be expressed by
ai = r sin i
and the driving moment becomes

The radius has been moved outside because the radius is

constant for a circle

Procedures of slices:
Circular slip surfaces
The total resisting moment

• Si is the shear force on the base of

the ith slice and the summation is
performed for all slices.
• The shear force is the product of
the shear stress, i, and the area of
the base of the slice, which for a
slice of unit thickness is Δℓi ⋅

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Procedures of slices:
Circular slip surfaces

si is the strength of the soil at the base of slice I

Factor of safety

Drop indices
for any slice

Procedures of slices:
Circular slip surfaces

shear strength

If is equal to zero

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Ordinary Method of Slices

Swedish Method of Slices, Fellenius method
Neglects the forces on the sides of the slices

Normal force,

Divide the normal force by the

area of the base of the slice (1 ⋅ Δℓ)

Ordinary Method of Slices

Swedish Method of Slices, Fellenius method
Factor of safety, TSA

ESA

‘= − u

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Ordinary Method of Slices

Swedish Method of Slices, Fellenius method
can lead to unrealistically low,
even negative, values for ESA

σ’

if α=60ο, u/γh=1/3

Ordinary Method of Slices

Swedish Method of Slices, Fellenius method
, W’=effective weight,
ub=uplift force
, N′=effective normal force,

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Simplified Bishop Procedure

Shear force

F= factor of safety

MC

Simplified Bishop Procedure

ESA

TSA

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Simplified Bishop Procedure

For saturated soils (undrained loading), = 0 TSA

In = 0 case, the Logarithmic Spiral, Swedish Circle,

Ordinary Method of Slices, and Simplified Bishop
procedures all give the same value for the factor of
safety.
The primary practical limitation of the Simplified Bishop
procedure is that it is restricted to circular slip surfaces.

Inclusion of Additional Known

Forces
Slopes can have;
• Water adjacent to them
• Support traffic
• Stockpiled materials
• The pseudostatic analyses for seismic loading
additional horizontal body forces representing
earthquake loading.
• Forces representing the reinforcement

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Inclusion of Additional Forces

• Equilibrium equation;
(resisting) moments are (+)
(overturning) moments are (-)

• Seismic forces, kWi, and

• Forces due to soil reinforcement, Ti

Inclusion of Additional Forces

equilibrium equation;

k is the seismic coefficient,

di the vertical distance
Ti is the force in the reinforcement
hi is the moment arm of the reinforcement

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Inclusion of Additional Forces

Factor of safety

F in terms of effective stresses

ΣFy=0

Fv is sum of vertical forces

Fv

Inclusion of Additional Forces

Factor of safety

Mn net moment due to all known forces except the

weight, including moments produced by the seismic
forces (kW), external loads (P), and reinforcement (T)

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PROCEDURES OF SLICES:
NONCIRCULAR SLIP SURFACES
Force Equilibrium (Only)
Procedures

Correction factors for

Janbu’s simplified
procedure of slices.

PROCEDURES OF SLICES:
NONCIRCULAR SLIP SURFACES

Interslice force inclinations in

the Modified Swedish procedure

average inclinations
of the embankment
slope

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PROCEDURES OF SLICES:
NONCIRCULAR SLIP SURFACES
1st wedge:

PROCEDURES OF SLICES:
NONCIRCULAR SLIP SURFACES
2nd wedge:

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NONCIRCULAR SLIP SURFACES

Spencer’s Procedure

NONCIRCULAR SLIP SURFACES

Spencer’s Procedure

Fh = sum of forces in the horizontal direction, and

Fy = sum of forces in the vertical direction

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