Examining the Effects of Suction and Nonlinear Strength Envelopes on the Stability of a High Plasticity Clay Slope
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Background
2.1. Landslides in High-Plasticity Clays
2.2. Shear Strength Envelopes
2.3. Effects of Suction on Strength
3. Materials and Methods
3.1. Study Location
3.2. Soil Samples and Properties
3.3. Torsional Ring Shear Testing
4. Torsional Shear Testing Results
Comparison with Previous Studies
5. Slope Stability Analyses
5.1. Effect of Strength Envelope
5.2. Effect of Suction
6. Discussion
7. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Soil Type (USCS) | Liquid Limit | Plasticity Index | Natural Water Content (%) | Dry Density (kN/m3) | Fines Content (%) | Average Clay Fraction (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fat Clay (CH) | 71–86 | 47–60 | 28–40% | 12.7–14.2 | 60–96% | 54% |
Envelope Types | Strength Envelope (kPa) | R2 |
---|---|---|
Residual Strength-Linear Fit | 0.983 | |
Residual Strength-Power Fit | 0.875 | |
Fully Softened Strength-Linear Fit | 0.994 | |
Fully Softened Strength-Power Fit | 0.929 |
Soil Layer | Density (kN/m3) | Drained Friction Angle (Deg) | Cohesion (kPa) |
---|---|---|---|
Pavement | 22.8 | 34 | 369 |
Embankment | 18.1 | Fully softened and residual strength envelopes shown in Table 2 | |
Foundation | 18.3 | Fully softened and residual strength envelopes shown in Table 2 |
Factor of Safety | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Fully Softened Strength-Linear Fit | Fully Softened Strength-Power Fit | Residual Strength-Linear Fit | Residual Strength-Power Fit | |
No suction | 1.629 | 2.344 | 0.726 | 1.117 |
No suction—0.5 m minimum depth | 1.819 | 2.344 | 0.810 | 1.117 |
With suction | 3.320 | - | 1.480 | - |
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Xuan, M.; Montgomery, J.; Anderson, J.B. Examining the Effects of Suction and Nonlinear Strength Envelopes on the Stability of a High Plasticity Clay Slope. Geosciences 2021, 11, 449. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11110449
Xuan M, Montgomery J, Anderson JB. Examining the Effects of Suction and Nonlinear Strength Envelopes on the Stability of a High Plasticity Clay Slope. Geosciences. 2021; 11(11):449. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11110449
Chicago/Turabian StyleXuan, Mengwei, Jack Montgomery, and J. Brian Anderson. 2021. "Examining the Effects of Suction and Nonlinear Strength Envelopes on the Stability of a High Plasticity Clay Slope" Geosciences 11, no. 11: 449. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11110449