Critical Failure Surface

Courses > Soil Mechanics > Slope Stability > Critical Failure Surface

Introduction

The step-by-step procedure presented in the Circular Arc Failure of Slope Analysis article illustrates how to compute the factor of safety for one selected circular arc failure surface. The complete analysis requires that a large number of assumed failure surfaces be checked in order to find the critical one, i.e., the surface with the lowest factor of safety.

Concepts and Formulas

This task would obviously be a tedious and time consuming operation if done by hand. Therefore a computer program becomes a valuable tool for performing such computations. Any method for stability analysis is easily adapted to computer solution. For critical circle methods a grid of possible circle centers is defined, and a range of radius values established for each. The computer can be directed to perform stability analyses for each circle center over the range of radii and then to print out all the safety factors or just the minimum one and its radius. A plot of minimum safety factor for each circle center in the form of contours can be used to define the location of the most critical circle and the minimum safety factor as shown in Figure below. The radius of the most critical surface can be used to locate the intersection points of the circle with the ground surface above and below the slope. This is useful in identifying structures above and below the slope that may be potentially impacted by slope instability.

Figure above shows just one of several ways that computer programs can be used to search for the most critical failure surface. It is beyond the scope of this manual to discuss these in detail. However, the following points should be noted as one uses a computer program for locating the most critical failure surface:

Check multiple circle center locations and compare the lowest safety factors. There may be more than one “local” minimum and a single circle center location may not necessarily locate the lowest safety factor for the slope.
Search all areas of the slope to find the lowest safety factor. The designer may find multiple areas of the slope where the safety factors are low and comparable. In this case, the designer should try to identify insignificant failure modes that lead to low safety factors for which the consequences of failure are small. This is often the case in cohesionless soils, where the lowest safety factor is found for a shallow failure plane located close the slope face.
Review the soil stratigraphy for “secondary” geological features such as thin relatively weak zones where a slip surface can develop. Often, circular failure surfaces are locally modified by the presence of such weak zones. Therefore computer software capable of simulating such failures should be used. Some of the weak zones may be man-made, e.g., when new fills are not adequately keyed into existing fills for widening projects.
Conduct stability analyses to take into account all possible loading and unloading schemes to which the slope might be subjected during its design life. For example, if the slope has a detention basin next to it, then it might be prudent to evaluate the effect of water on the slope, e.g., perform an analysis for a rapid drawdown condition.
Use the drained or undrained soil strength parameters as appropriate for the conditions being analyzed
Use stability charts to develop a “feel” for the safety factor that may be anticipated. Stability charts are discussed in the next section. Such charts may also be used to verify the results of computer solutions.

Watch Videos

No videos available for this topic. Suggest one!

Solved sample problems

Download Files

No files available for this topic. Suggest one!

Read also

Follow our official Facebook page (@civilengineeringbible) and Twitter page (@CivilEngBible) and do not miss the best civil engineering tools and articles!