A SHORT COURSE IN

SOIL AND ROCK

SLOPE ENGINEERING

NOEL SIMONS, BRUCE MENZIES and MARCUS MATTHEWS

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 Published by Thomas Telford Publishing, Thomas Telford Ltd, 1 Heron Quay,
London E14 4JD.
URL: http://www.thomastelford.com

Distributors for Thomas Telford books are

USA: ASCE Press, 1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Reston, VA 20191-4400, USA
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Tokyo 103
Australia: DA Books and Journals, 648 Whitehorse Road, Mitcham 3132, Victoria

First published 2001

Reprinted 2005, 2007

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-07277-2871-5

# Noel Simons, Bruce Menzies, Marcus Matthews and Thomas Telford Limited 2001.

All rights, including translation, reserved. Except as permitted by the Copyright,

Designs and Patents Act 1988, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Publishing
Director, Thomas Telford Publishing, Thomas Telford Ltd, 1 Heron Quay,
London E14 4JD.

This book is published on the understanding that the authors are solely responsible for
the statements made and opinions expressed in it and that its publication does not
necessarily imply that such statements and/or opinions are or reflect the views or
opinions of the publishers. While every effort has been made to ensure that the
statements made and the opinions expressed in this publication provide a safe and
accurate guide, no liability or responsibility can be accepted in this respect by the
authors or publishers.

Typeset by Academic Technical, Bristol

Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books, Bodmin

Cover photograph
Photograph of a landslide pushing over an apartment building in Kuala Lumpur, by kind
permission of Bruce Mitchell.

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 Preface

In our Mission Statement for this book, we determined to provide our

readers with:

. a full explanation of the fundamentals of soil mechanics and rock

mechanics involved in the understanding of slope engineering
. an outline of the methods used in carrying out slope stability analysis
`by hand' to enable the checking of computer outputs
. a brief introduction to software applications for slope stability analysis
and where to nd them
. a review of the principles of investigation and stabilization of slope
failures.

A Short Course in Soil and Rock Slope Engineering is based on University

of Surrey short courses that were designed not only to familiarize students
with the practicalities of geotechnical engineering but also to refresh the
knowledge of practising engineers and engineering geologists. In accord
with the `Short Course . . .' title, the book concentrates facts and gures in
quick-reference charts and tables. Analytical methods are illustrated with
many worked examples. Above all we have tried to get the fundamentals
right and to avoid having them obscured by too much detail. We think the
book will appeal to students because particular emphasis is put on
explaining the fundamental soil mechanics and rock mechanics involved
in understanding and designing soil and rock slopes.
The book is divided into two parts effectively two short courses one
for soil slopes and one for rock slopes. Initially, we were attracted to the
idea of integrating the common elements that exist between the analysis
and design of soil and rock slopes and so take a more unied approach to
soils and rocks as `geomaterials'. We also felt, however, that we could not
stray too far from the traditional expectation that soil slopes and rock
slopes present different problems with different approaches to solving
them. For example, for soil slopes, analysis usually proceeds by assuming
the soil is a continuum within which slip surfaces may develop as well as
pre-exist. Pore water pressures are dealt with implicitly in terms of
effective stress. For rock slopes, however, analysis usually proceeds by

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 assuming the rock is not a continuum but is an assembly of rigid blocks
sliding along existing joints or surfaces that may or may not predispose
the slope to failure. Water pressures are dealt with as force vectors. We
decided nally that the traditional approach should prevail.
So that this second book in our Short Course series can stand alone, we
have reproduced some material on fundamental soil mechanics from the
rst book, A Short Course in Foundation Engineering. Included are
topics on effective stress, short term and long term stability, and some
aspects of shear strength. We have also drawn on key classic works that
are listed in the Acknowledgements. These make an excellent bibliogra-
phy of recommended further reading.
Almost all analysis and design of slopes are computer-aided. The Geo-
technical and Geo-environmental Software Directory (www.ggsd.com)
catalogues over fty computer programs for slope stability analysis. We
list these Chapter 4, Classic methods of slope stability analysis. Nearly all
of them are commercial. To be realistic, therefore, we considered it
appropriate to the particular character of our book that an introduction to
commercially available software was included. We canvassed the opinions
of many colleagues in universities and consulting rms. We then obtained
permission from GEO-SLOPE International Ltd to include with this book a
CD of their software package `SLOPE/W Student Edition' for the analysis
of soil slopes. For rock slopes, we were unable to nd a corresponding
commercial partner. Instead, we have developed our own spreadsheet for
the Hoek & Bray Comprehensive three-dimensional wedge analysis. This
spreadsheet, which is called `Surrey Wedge' and which may be used for
educational purposes only, can be downloaded from the University of
Surrey web site (www.surrey.ac.uk/CivEng/research/geotech/index.htm).
While classic methods of slope stability analysis have been automated
by computer, and new computer methods have been devised, it is still
the responsibility of the design engineer to ensure that ground properties
(inputs) and design predictions (outputs) pass the sanity test! Indeed, it is
the explicit duty of the engineer to check the outputs of computer
programs by calculation `by hand' i.e. in an immediately obvious and
transparent way without the aid of a `black box' (or mysterious) computer
program although a computer spreadsheet may be permitted as an aid to
hand computation! These checks `by hand' use the classic methods we
describe, many of them still used to this day by commercial software
packages.

Noel Simons, Bruce Menzies, Marcus Matthews

University of Surrey
Guildford 2000

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 Acknowledgements

Above all, we acknowledge the enormous contribution to slope engineer-

ing of Sir Alec Skempton FRS FREng.

We warmly thank our colleagues at the University of Surrey for all their
support over many years: Chris Clayton, Mike Huxley, Ab Tarzi, Mike
Gunn, Vicki Hope and Rick Woods. We are most grateful for the help
and advice of John Hutchinson, Eddie Bromhead, Evert Hoek, Gian
Paulo Giani, Tim Spink, John Krahn, David Deane, Derek Craig, John
Grimes, Ray Telling, Bruce Mitchell, Gordon Wilson, Chris Pamplin,
Ben Totterdell, Geoff Davis, Rob Tapply, Keith Cole, Steve Fort and
Alan Clark. Of course, the comments expressed in this book are those of
the authors and do not necessarily reect the views of any of the above.
We also gratefully acknowledge the important contributions to this book
of past research students: Ayad Madhloom, Peter Wilkes, Malcolm Roy
and the late Nick Kalteziotis. We are also most grateful to Margaret
Harris who drew many of the original gures.
We acknowledge permissions from the following.
Professor J.N. Hutchinson to make verbatim extracts from the following:

. Hutchinson, J.N. (1968) Mass movement. Encyclopaedia of Geo-

morphology (Encyclopaedia of Earth Sciences, Series III, Ed. R.W.
Fairbridge), pp. 688695, Reinhold Publishers, New York.
. Hutchinson, J.N. (1983) Methods of locating slip surfaces in landslides.
Bulletin of the Association of Engineering Geologists, Vol. XX, No. 3,
pp. 235252.
. Hutchinson, J.N. (1984) Landslides in Britain and their counter-
measures. Journal of Japan Landslide Society, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 1
23.
. Hutchinson, J.N. (1988) General Report, Morphological and geotechni-
cal parameters of landslides in relation to geology and geohydrology.
Proc. 5th. Int. Symp. Landslides, Lausanne, Vol. 1, pp. 335, Balkema,
Rotterdam.

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 Professor Rhodes W. Fairbridge to make verbatim extracts from Hutch-
inson, J.N. (1968) Mass movement. Encyclopaedia of Geomorphology
(Encyclopaedia of Earth Sciences, Series III, Ed. R.W. Fairbridge),
pp. 688695, Reinhold Publishers, New York.
The Secretary for the Association of Engineering Geologists to use
information from Hutchinson, J.N. (1983) Methods of locating slip surfaces
in landslides. Bulletin of the Association of Engineering Geologists,
Vol. XX, No. 3, pp. 235252.
Dr Evert Hoek to use material from his notes `Practical Rock Engineer-
ing', 1998 edition, available for download on www.rocscience.com.
Blackwell Science Ltd to publish text from pages 86115 and gures
2.4, 2.5 and 2.7 from Site Investigation by C.R.I. Clayton, N.E. Simons
and M.C. Matthews, ISBN 0 632 02908 0.
A.A. Balkema and from Professor Gian Paolo Giani to reprint text
and gures from pages 103129 and 191228 of Rock Slope Stability
Analysis, by Gian Paolo Giani. ISBN 90 541 122 9, 1992, 25cm, 374 pp.,
c 82.50/US$87.50/58. A.A.Balkema, P.O.Box 1675, Rotterdam, Nether-
lands (fax: +31.10.4135947; e-mail sales@balkema.nl).
A.A. Balkema to reprint text and gures from General Report, `Morpho-
logical and geotechnical parameters of landslides in relation to geology and
geohydrology' by J.N. Hutchinson. Reprinted from: Instability phenomena
in the zone of the Alpine Arc Extracts from the Proceedings of the 5th
International Symposium on Landslides, Lausanne, 1015 July 1988,
Bonnard, Ch. (ed.) 90 6191 841 3, 1990, 30 cm, 144 pp., paper, c 66.00/
US$78.00/46, A.A. Balkema, P.O. Box 1675, Rotterdam, Netherlands
(fax: +31.10.4135947; e-mail: sales@balkema.nl).
E. & F.N. Spon Ltd (part of the Taylor & Francis Group) to use material
from Rock Slope Engineering by E. Hoek and J. Bray, 1981.
The Institution of Mining & Metallurgy to reproduce text and gures
from pages 230253 of Rock Slope Engineering, 2nd edition, by Evert
Hoek and John Bray, ISBN 0 900488 36 0.
The National Academies, Transport Research Board, to use material
from: Special Report 176: Landslides: Analysis and Control. Transporta-
tion Research Board, National Research Council, Washington, D.C.,
1978. Use of this material does not imply endorsement of a particular
product, method, or practice by the Transportation Research Board.
Kluwer Academic Publishers to make extracts from text and gures
from pages 261275 of Discontinuity Analysis for Rock Engineering by
Stephen D. Priest, ISBN 0 412 47600 2.
Taylor & Francis Books Ltd and Professor E.N. Bromhead to make use of
text and gures from approximately two pages of text and two gures from
The Stability of Slopes, 2nd edition, by E.N. Bromhead, ISBN 041925580X,
published by E & F.N. Spon.

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 Transport Research Laboratory, UK, to make extracts from text and
gures from TRRL Laboratory Report 1039: Rock stability assessment in
preliminary site investigations graphical methods by G.D. Matheson.
Crown copyright 1983. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of
HM Stationery Ofce.
GEO-SLOPE International Ltd to distribute a CD of their software
package `SLOPE/W Student Edition Copyright #19911999 GEO-
SLOPE International Ltd. All rights reserved.'
Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre, to reproduce photos of a rock fall at
Charmouth, Dorset, England. Copyright: Charmouth Heritage Coast
Centre. Photographer Adrian Adams.
Bruce Mitchell, to reproduce his photographs of a landslide pushing
over an apartment block in Kuala Lumpur. Copyright Bruce Mitchell.
Aerolms Ltd, to reproduce an air photo of Stag Hill, Guildford.
Copyright Aerolms Ltd.
West Dorset District Council and High-Point Rendel, to make extracts
from internal documents and drawings referring to preliminary proposals
for drilled drainage array trials at Lyme Regis.

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 Dedication

Professor Noel Simons FREng, 19312006

Noel Simons, who developed the University of Surrey into one of the UKs
leading centres of geotechnical learning and research, and who inspired
the Short Course Series of geotechnical books, died on August 10th
2006. He was aged 75.
He was not only a wonderful teacher, mentor, colleague and co-author,
but was also a dear friend. This book is dedicated to his memory.

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 Contents

Part 1: Soil Slopes 1

Chapter 1 Effective stress, strength and stability 3

Effective stress 3
Strength 14
The applicability of shear test data to eld stability problems 21
Factors affecting the evaluation of eld stability 25
Summary 28

Chapter 2 Short term stability, undrained strength of clays 29

Short term stability 29
Undrained strength of clays 35
Case records (Bishop and Bjerrum, 1960) 48
Summary of main points 49

Chapter 3 Long term stability, drained strength of clays 51

Long term stability 51
Drained strength of clays 54
Summary of main points 75

Chapter 4 Classic methods of slope stability analysis 77

Overview 77
Simple cases 78
Slip circle analysis:  0 method 86
Effective stress slip circle analysis: Bishop (1955) 91
Circular analyses compared 94
Slip circle analysis: Morgenstern and Price (1965) 96
Hoek and Bray design charts 102
Partially submerged slopes 103
Non-circular slip analysis 112
Computer programs 113

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 Chapter 5 Classic case records of slope failures 117
Overview 117
Short term stability of cuttings 118
Long term stability of clay slopes 128
Lessons learned from case records of slope failures 150

Chapter 6 Stabilizing and investigating landslips 152

Remedial measures for stabilizing landslips 152
Investigating landslips 181

Part 2: Rock Slopes 193

Chapter 7 Discontinuities in rock: description and presentation for

stability analysis 195
Description of rock discontinuities 195
Methods for collecting discontinuity data 211
Presentation of discontinuity data for stability analysis:
the stereonet 220

Chapter 8 Types of rock slope failures: kinematic feasibility 241

Modes of failure 241

Chapter 9 Shear strength of discontinuities in rock 262

Overview 262
Inuence of surface roughness 264
Scale effects 272
Inuence of inlling 273
Inuence of surface texture and mineral coating on discontinuities 275
Inuence of water pressure in discontinuities 275
Cohesion 275
Methods for measuring the shear strength parameters for rock
discontinuities 277

Chapter 10 Analysis of rock slopes 286

Limit equilibrium analysis 286
Plane failure 290
Wedge failure 304
Hoek and Bray Simplied Method 305
Hoek and Bray Improved Method 313

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 Hoek and Bray Short Method 322
Hoek and Bray Comprehensive Method 329
Circular failure 336
Toppling failure 338
Rockfalls 347

Chapter 11 Stabilization, maintenance and protection of rock slopes 352

Overview 352
Construction 352
Stabilization 358
Protection of slope 369
Protection of property and people 369
Maintenance 376
Recommended list of units, unit abbreviations, quantity symbols
and conversion factors for use in soil and rock mechanics 378

Appendix 1 Bishop and Morgenstern's stability coefcients 381

Appendix 2 Hoek and Bray's stability coefcients 395

Appendix 3 Data for worked example 401

References and Bibliography 403

Index 426

CD-ROM SLOPE/W Student Edition

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