• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.157-170
• /
• 2003

This study is performed to investigate the cause of slope failure and to suggest suitable stabilization methods for the failed rock slopes. The slope which is located along the national highway between Maesan and Kakok in Dangjin-gun failed during the construction of roads. Site investigation, drilling program, field measurements, rainfall records, and stability analyses are used to investigate the cause of the slope failure. The problem determining the cut-slope angle based on the existing design manual for the construction of roads is reviewed based on the case history given in this paper. If weakness layer and geological structures such as folds and faults are developed in a slope, slope failure is possible even though the direction of slope and the direction of discontinuities depart more than $30^{\circ}$.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.31 no.5
• /
• pp.439-452
• /
• 2022

A forecast of slope behavior during catastrophic events, such as earthquakes is crucial to recognize the risk of slope failure. This paper endeavors to eliminate the significant supposition of predefined slip surfaces in the slope stability analysis, which questions the relevance of simple conventional methods under seismic conditions. To overcome such limitations, a methodology dependent on the slip line hypothesis, which permits an automatic generation of slip surfaces, is embraced to trace the extreme slope face under static and seismic conditions. The effect of earthquakes is considered using the pseudo-static approach. The current outcomes developed from a parametric study endorse a non-linear slope surface as the extreme profile, which is in accordance with the geomorphological aspect of slopes. The proposed methodology is compared with the finite element limit analysis to ensure credibility. Through the design charts obtained from the current investigation, the stability of slopes can be assessed under seismic conditions. It can be observed that the extreme slope profile demands a flat configuration to endure the condition of the limiting equilibrium at a higher level of seismicity. However, a concurrent enhancement in the shear strength of the slope medium suppresses this tendency by offering greater resistance to the seismic inertial forces induced in the medium. Unlike the traditional linear slopes, the extreme slope profiles mostly exhibit a steeper layout over a significant part of the slope height, thus ensuring a more optimized solution to the slope stability problem. Further, the susceptibility of the Longnan slope failure in the Huining-Wudu seismic belt is predicted using the current plasticity approach, which is found to be in close agreement with a case study reported in the literature. Finally, the concept of equivalent single or multi-tiered planar slopes is explored through an example problem, which exhibits the appropriateness of the proposed non-linear slope geometry under actual field conditions.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.457-469
• /
• 2016

Steep rock slope with water-filled tension crack will happen to overturn around the toe of the slope under seismic loading. This failure type is completely different from the common toppling failure occurring in anti-dipping layered rock mass slopes with steeply dipping discontinuities. This paper presents an analytical approach to determine the seismic factor of safety against overturning for an intact rock mass slope with water-filled tension crack considering horizontal and vertical seismic coefficients. This solution is a generalized explicit expression and is derived using the moment equilibrium approach. A numerical program based on discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) is adopted to validate the analytical results. The parametric study is carried out to adequately investigate the effect of horizontal and vertical seismic coefficients on the overall stability against overturning for a saturated rock slope under two water pressure modes. The analytical results show that vertically upward seismic inertia force or/and second water pressure distribution mode will remarkably decrease the slope stability against overturning. Finally, several representative design charts of slopes also are presented for the practical application.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2005.03a
• /
• pp.725-730
• /
• 2005

In case of the national roads which is opened in the past, there are carried out the expansion and improvement for enlargement of the traffic demand by industrial development and safety road operation to narrow of road width and serious change of the road alignment with effect of topography and graphical features of a mountain. A protection method using vegetation in the cut-slope has been constructed for harmony of ambient environment after cutting the slope recently. But it requires a study because the surface lose and the failure have been occurred in the large cut-slope which is covered by vegetation. In this study it was presented a countermeasure and examined a stability of contained uncertainty in the cut-slope according to the failure example of the cut-slope which is covered by vegetation. The additional research will be necessary against the development of the investigation technique which executes the stability investigation of the cut-slope which is covered by vegetation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2008.03a
• /
• pp.1036-1041
• /
• 2008

In order to analysis the reason of sliding failure in embankment slope under construction in soft soil area, a model section located in Gimhae Region in Gyeongsangnam-Do, where the sliding failure had been occurred during embankment works in soft soil area, had been selected. This area had been firstly treated with the Pack Drain Method, and additional embankment works of 9.7 meters out of total 14 meters in thickness had been under construction. The results of analysis showed that the reason of sliding failure were overspeed in embankment construction and the overestimation of design factors in calculating strength of each layer of embankment and poor management and inaccuracy reading of measurement devices.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.10 no.10
• /
• pp.2810-2818
• /
• 2009

In order to examine the characteristic of shallow failure in cut slopes composed of weathered granite soil, this study calculated critical permeability coefficient according to rainfall characteristic in Korea, performed stability analysis according to the representative physical properties of weathered granite soil distributed in Korea such as horizontal distance to the failure surface of cut slope, slope inclination, slope height, and the depth of wetting by rainfall, and analyzed the results. In the results of analyzing critical permeability coefficient, when the local rainfall characteristic was considered, the maximum critical permeability coefficient was $7.16{\times}10^{-4}cm/sec$. We judged that shallow failure according to wetting depth should be considered when rainfall below the critical rainfall intensity lasts longer than the minimum rainfall duration in cut slopes composed of weathered granite soil, which had a critical permeability coefficient lower than the maximum critical permeability coefficient. Furthermore, using simulated failure surface, this study could understand the characteristic of shallow failure in cut slopes based on the change in slope safety factor according to horizontal distance, wetting depth, and strength parameter.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.16 no.5 s.64
• /
• pp.368-376
• /
• 2006

After heavy rainfall, It was occurred massive plane failure along bedding plane of shale in the center of rock slope. It was observed filling material and trace of underground water leakage around of the slope. We tried to find the cause for slope failure, and the result of examination showed that primary factors of the failure were low shear strength of clay filling material and water pressure formed within tension crack existed in the top of the slope. In this research, in order to examine the features of shear strength of filled rock joint, shear test of filled rock joint was conducted using of artificial filling material such as sand and clay..Also we made an investigation into the characteristics of shear strength with different thickness of filling materials.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2006.10a
• /
• pp.256-267
• /
• 2006

After heavy rainfall, It was occurred massive plane failure along bedding plane of shale in the center of rock slope. It was observed filling material and trace of underground water leakage around of the slope. We tried to find the cause for slope failure, and the result of examination showed that primary factors of the failure were low shear strength of clay filling material and water pressure farmed within tension crack existed in the top of the slope. In this research, in order to examine the features of shear strength of filled rock joint, shear test of filled rock joint was conducted using of artificial filling material such as sand and clay. Also we made an investigation into the characteristics of shear strength with different thickness of filling materials.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.16 no.6
• /
• pp.655-667
• /
• 2018

To evaluate the stability of a rock slope with one pre-exiting vertical crack, this paper performs corresponding probabilistic stability analysis. The existence of cracks is generally ignored in traditional deterministic stability analysis. However, they are widely found in either cohesive soil or rock slopes. The influence of one pre-exiting vertical crack on a rock slope is considered in this study. The safety factor, which is usually adopted to quantity the stability of slopes, is derived through the deterministic computation based on the strength reduction technique. The generalized Hoek-Brown (HB) failure criterion is adopted to characterize the failure of rock masses. Considering high nonlinearity of the limit state function as using nonlinear HB criterion, the multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) is used to accurately approximate the implicit limit state function of a rock slope. Then the MARS is integrated with Monte Carlo simulation to implement reliability analysis, and the influences of distribution types, level of uncertainty, and constants on the probability density functions and failure probability are discussed. It is found that distribution types of random variables have little influence on reliability results. The reliability results are affected by a combination of the uncertainty level and the constants. Finally, a reliability-based design figure is provided to evaluate the safety factor of a slope required for a target failure probability.

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