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G. Madhavi Latha
Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, email: madhavi@civil.iisc.ernet.in
Aruna Kumari, G.
L&T-Valdel Engineering Limited, Bangalore, India, email: aruna.iisc@gmail.com
ABSTRACT: This paper presents static and dynamic stability analyses of the right abutment slope of a railway bridge proposed at
about 350 m above the ground level, crossing a river and connecting two huge hillocks in Himalayas, India. The site is located in a
highly active seismic zone. The rock slopes are heavily jointed and the joint spacing and orientation are varying at different locations.
Static and seismic slope stability analysis confirmed the global stability of the slope. However, it is very likely that there could be
wedge failures possible at some of the pier locations. This paper also presents the results from kinematics of right abutment slope for
the wedge failure analysis based on stereographic projections. Some very important conclusions regarding the stability of the slope at
various pier locations and field observations are presented with appropriate recommendations.
1 INTRODUCTION
2 DESCRIPTION OF THE ROCK SLOPE
Stability analysis of rock slopes becomes essential for the safe
design of excavated slopes like open pit mines, road cuts and A railway line is being laid in Jammu and Kashmir, India and
also to check the equilibrium conditions of a natural slope. A this line is crossing the river Chenab at a height of about 350 m.
rock slope can fail due to one or the combination of these A bridge is being constructed with total 18 piers at this place
following four mechanisms; circular sliding, plane sliding, connecting two hillocks. Among these piers, 4 piers (P10-P40)
wedge sliding and toppling. Circular failure occurs in rock mass are resting on left abutment and the other 14 piers (P50-P180)
which can be justified as homogeneous medium. When the are resting on right abutment. Slope stability analysis of the right
instability is dictated by the presence of pre-existing abutment is taken up in the present study. The section of the
discontinuities, the failure will be in the form of plane sliding, bridge and abutments along with the foundations that could
wedge sliding or toppling. To assess the stability of a rock slope, affect the stability of the slope is given in Figure 1. Figure 2
all these possible failure modes have to be checked. shows the photograph taken at the site of proposed bridge.
There are several tools available at present to carry out slope
stability analyses of rocks. Limit equilibrium method used in
conjunction with numerical modeling still remains as most
commonly adopted method in rock slope engineering, even
though most failures involve complex internal deformation and
fracturing which bears little resemblance to the rigid block
assumptions required by most limit equilibrium back-analyses.
The argument for the use of all relevant available slope analysis
techniques in a design or back-analysis is crystallized by the
observation of Chen (2000), In the early days, slope failure was
always written off as an act of God. Today, attorneys can always
find someone to blame and someone to pay for the damage
especially when the damage involves loss of life or property.
The dynamic analysis of slopes in rock masses is studied by
several earlier researchers using different techniques. Zhang et
al. (1997) carried out studies on the dynamic behaviour of a 120- Fig. 1. Section of the gorge with pier foundations along the slope
m high rock slope of the Three Gorges Shiplock using DEM.
Hatzor et al. (2004) carried out dynamic 2D stability analysis of
upper terrace of King Herods Palace in Masada, which is a
highly discontinuous rock slope. Bhasin and Kaynia (2004)
performed static and dynamic rock slope stability analyses for a
700-m high rock slope in western Norway using a numerical
discontinuum modeling technique. Liu et al. (2004) studied the
dynamic response of Huangmail in Phosphorite rock slope in
China under explosion using UDEC. Crosta (2007) performed
dynamic analysis of the Thurwieser Rock Avalanche, Italian
Alps.
This paper presents the results from static, pseudo static and
dynamic analysis of a huge rock slope in the Himalaya region of
India. Equivalent continuum approach along with the Hoek-
Brown failure criterion (Hoek and Brown, 1980) is used to
represent the rock mass behaviour in the continuum analyses.
The slope is then analyzed for possible wedge failures at Fig. 2. Photograph showing the proposed bridge site
different pier locations.
The rocks present at the bridge site are heavily jointed. The
subsurface at the extent of the bridge site considered for slope
stability analysis essentially consists of dolomitic limestone with
different degrees of weathering and fracturing. The main
discontinuities at the site are one sub-horizontal foliation joint
dipping about 20-30 degrees in north-east (NE) direction and
two sub-vertical joints. The summary of structural features
present in the area is given in Table 1.
0.1
o
P50 40 54o 48 o
234o
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 Location Joint set J3 Joint set J4
-0.1 Dip Dip Dip Dip
-0.2
Direction Direction
P70 70o 131o 51o 263o
-0.3
Time (s)
P60 69o 153o 39o 308o
o
P50 71 153o 8o
32o
Fig. 5. Transverse component of acceleration time history of
Using the data in Table 3, stereographic projections of joint
Uttarkashi earthquake used in the study
sets are plotted for various locations. The average angle of slope
for the right abutment of the bridge is 50 and the dip direction
of the slope is 123. Stereographic projections of joint sets at
P60 and P50 are shown in Figures 7 and 8 respectively.
5 CONCLUSIONS