Modeling of shallow slope failure using curved-surface envelope extended Mohr-Coulomb model

• Published in: Unsaturated Soils: Theoretical and Numerical Advances in Unsaturated Soil Mechanics - Proceedings of the 4th Asia Pacific Conference on Unsaturated Soils
• Main Author: Md. Noor M.J.; Hadi B.A.; Hafez M.A.
• Format: Conference paper
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84875201475&partnerID=40&md5=1ac905fb366cf54e0a5bd576915a48e5

Shallow slope failure is very close associated with surface water infiltration. The infiltration soaked the soil near the ground surface which reduces the suction and in turn reduces the apparent shear strength and thereby reduces the failure resisting factor. Simultaneously the soil bulk weight increases which thereby increases the failure driving factor. The changes in the suction and net stress close to the slope surface are attributed to the cause of the failure and these changes are occurring at low stress levels. Therefore it is very significant to apply the actual soil shear strength behavior at these low stress ranges in order to understand the shallow failure behavior. The curved-surface envelope soil shear strength model is able to replicate the soil true non-linear shear strength behavior at low stress range (i.e. low suction and low net stress). The application of the shear strength model would able to simulate the shallow failure mode. A parametric study of this application will be presented to substantiate the concept. © 2010 Taylor & Francis Group, London.