<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>The thoughtful design and mitigation of ecological slope stabilization measures rely heavily on the reliable assessment of the stability of vegetated slopes. This is a complex problem due to the many aspects of vegetation presence that must be taken into account. The numerical model should be able to consider mechanical root reinforcement and root water uptake, which can lead to soil desaturation. This paper presents the application of the strength reduction method to the Modified Cam-Clay model for unsaturated, root-reinforced soils, which allows for the quantitative estimation of slope stability. The technique is implemented in finite element software and tested using several numerical examples. Firstly, the sensitivity of the factor of safety to changes in root constitutive parameters is investigated. In the second example, the stability of the modelled slope is assessed under rainfall of a certain duration followed by progressively modifying soil strength parameters until failure occurs. Furthermore, slope stability is assessed for various durations of the rainfall period.</p>
</abstract>

The thoughtful design and mitigation of ecological slope stabilization measures rely heavily on the reliable assessment of the stability of vegetated slopes. This is a complex problem due to the many aspects of vegetation presence that must be taken into account. The numerical model should be able to consider mechanical root reinforcement and root water uptake, which can lead to soil desaturation. This paper presents the application of the strength reduction method to the Modified Cam-Clay model for unsaturated, root-reinforced soils, which allows for the quantitative estimation of slope stability. The technique is implemented in finite element software and tested using several numerical examples. Firstly, the sensitivity of the factor of safety to changes in root constitutive parameters is investigated. In the second example, the stability of the modelled slope is assessed under rainfall of a certain duration followed by progressively modifying soil strength parameters until failure occurs. Furthermore, slope stability is assessed for various durations of the rainfall period.

Strength Reduction Method in the Stability Assessment of Vegetated Slopes

Architecture, Civil Engineering, Environment

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Strength Reduction Method in the Stability Assessment of Vegetated Slopes"}

The thoughtful design and mitigation of ecological slope stabilization measures rely heavily on the reliable assessment of the stability of vegetated slopes....

R_p	$m_{r}^{ini}$ {\boldsymbol {m}_{\boldsymbol {r}}^{\boldsymbol {ini}}}	FOS
1.0	0.5	1.474
2.0	0.5	1.477
3.0	0.5	1.481
3.0	1.0	1.481
3.0	1.5	1.487
4.0	1.5	1.494

Parameter	Symbol	Value	Unit
Dry unit weight	γ_d	12.95	kN/m³
Poisson's ratio	ν	0.3	-
Plastic compressibility	λ	0.145	-
Elastic compressibility	κ	0.0097	-
Slope of the critical state line	M	1.0	-
Saturated permeability	k_s	5.00E-06	m/s
Initial void ratio	e_o	0.8	-
Van Genuchten’ sparamters:
	a	0.7	kPa
	n	2.16

Strength Reduction Method in the Stability Assessment of Vegetated Slopes

Publicado en línea: 20 jul 2023

Páginas: 151 - 159

Recibido: 13 ene 2023

Aceptado: 14 mar 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/acee-2023-0024

Palabras clave
Finite element method, Rainfall, Root-reinforcement, Slope stability, Strength reduction

© 2023 Barbara Świtała, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

Figure 4.

Figure 5.

Values of the factor of safety for different combinations of root parameters

List of soil parameters

Strength Reduction Method in the Stability Assessment of Vegetated Slopes

Publicado en línea: 20 jul 2023

Páginas: 151 - 159

Recibido: 13 ene 2023

Aceptado: 14 mar 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/acee-2023-0024

Palabras claveFinite element method, Rainfall, Root-reinforcement, Slope stability, Strength reduction

© 2023 Barbara Świtała, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

Figure 4.

Figure 5.

Values of the factor of safety for different combinations of root parameters

List of soil parameters

Palabras clave
Finite element method, Rainfall, Root-reinforcement, Slope stability, Strength reduction