Surficial Stability of Compacted Clay Slopes
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
Volume 115, Issue 4
Abstract
Surficial failures are quite common and are caused by a reduction in shear strength due to saturation and swell coupled with a condition of seepage parallel to the slope face. An equation relating factor of safety to depth of seepage flow is used to investigate the surficial instability of compacted clays. The major unknowns in this equation are the drained strength parameters (ϕ′, C′) and depth of seepage flow. It is concluded that surficial stability evaluations, which are commonly performed in a fashion similar to that prescribed by Los Angeles County, may result in an overestimation of the factor of safety. The reason is that, for the tested clays, the effective cohesion intercept for gross stability is not appropriate for surficial stability analysis since it is an extrapolated value which is much greater than actual cohesion at low effective stresses.
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References
1.
Evans, D. A. (1972). Slope stability report. Slope Stability Committee, Department of Building and Safety.
2.
Gill, L. D. (1967). “Landslides and attendant problems.” Mayor's Ad Hoc Landslide Committee Report, Los Angeles, Calif.
3.
Minimum standards for slope stability analysis. (1978). Orange County Dept. of County Engineer‐Facilities, Building and Safety Division. County of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Calif.
4.
Zaruba, Q., and Mencl, V. (1976). Engineering geology, Developments in geotechnical engineering 10, Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co., New York, N.Y.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
Volume 115 • Issue 4 • April 1989
Pages: 577 - 580
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 ASCE.
History
Published online: Apr 1, 1989
Published in print: Apr 1989
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