Slope movements

Slope movements

Slope movements

Slope movements

Slope movements

Slope movements

Slope movements

Slopes movements
Slope movement, or slope failure and mass wasting is one of the

major concerns of a civil engineer

Often he comes across slope movements or slope failures
Slope movement involves mass movement of soil or rock under
gravity
Slope movement is the downslope movement of the mantle of
rock-waste and the associated displacements of bedrock
This is a natural phenomena that would occur with or without
human interaction
The movements range from falls of material and landslides
resulting from slips to soil creep and rain-wash resulting from
various types of flow
Slope movement/failure, landslides, mass movement and mass
wasting are interrelated and interdependent and the outcome is the
same
They take place normally on slopes and cuttings and so they are
treated as slope failures
Slope movement may occur at a very slow rate like creep or it may
also occur at very high speed, like rock slides or landslides, with
disastrous consequences

Kinds of
slopes

All slopes are composed of one or more of these

elements and different processes are associated with

each element
A. The waxing slope, the part of the upper surface
which tends to be convex by being rounded off at, and
towards its edge with B; more commonly called the
convex slope, sometimes the upper wash slope
B. The free face, any outcrop of bare rock (a precipitous
valley wall, scarp or cliff) that stands more steeply than
the angle of repose of any talus heap that may
accumulate from its weathering products; it has also
been called a gravity or deviation slope, because from it
is derived the rock waste that falls or rolls down under
gravity. Free face is associated with rock fall process

Kinds of slopes

C. The constant slope, which is the angle of rest/repose of

the talus debris, whether it is a surface of talus or a bedrock

surface on which a sprinkling of fragments may halt for a
time.
If talus is present, its slope is often referred to as the talus or
debris slope. Because talus-debris continues to be
weathered, reduced in grain size and washed downhill by
rain, the debris slope ceases to be constant towards its lower
edge and merges into waning slope
D. The waning slope (pediment, valley-floor basement
or lower wash slope) which stretches to the valley floor or
other local base level with a diminishing angle, so that it is
more or less concave upwards. Concave surface is produced
by processes associated with running water

Slope Processes
Slopes are dynamic evolving structural systems
Material on slopes constantly moves down the

slope at varing rates

The rates can be as slow as soil creep, which is very

slow downslope movement of soil

They may be thundering avalanches,
They may be rockfalls moving at very high velocities

Controls of /Factors influencing

Slope Movement
A. Gravity

B. Earth Material type

C. Slope and topography
D. Climate and vegetation
E. Water
F. Time

G. Troublesome earth materials

H. Triggering Events

A. Forces
on Slopes
On a slope, the force of gravity can be resolved into two

components: a component acting perpendicular to the

slope and component acting tangential to the slope
The perpendicular component of gravity, gp, helps to
hold the object in place on the slope.
The tangential component of gravity, gt, pulls the object
in the down-slope direction.
The forces resisting movement down the slope are
grouped under the term shear strength whichincludes
frictional resistance and cohesion among the particles
that make up the object.
The tangential component parallel to the slope causes a
shear stress.
Slope stability is evaluated by computing the factor of
safety (FS)

A. Forces
on Slopes
FS is the ratio of the shear strength to shear sress, i.e
FS = Shear strength/shear stress
If FS is greater than 1, the resisting forces exceed the

driving forces and slope is considered stable

If FS is less that 1, the driving forces exceed the resisting
forces and a slope failure can be expected
Shear strength and shear stress are not static. They vary
when conditions change
Down-slope movement is favored by steeper slope
angles and anything that reduces the shear strength,
such as lowering the cohesion among the particles or
lowering the frictional resistance
A road cut in the toe of a slope with a slip plane is a
potential slope failure

B. Earth Material type

Earth materials are solid rocks and soils, water, and the

gases of the atmosphere

Rock, earth and debris are the terms generally used to
distinguish the materials involved in the landslide
process
For example, the distinction between earth and debris is
usually made by comparing the percentage of coarse
grain size fractions
If the weight of the particles with a diameter greater
than 2mm is less than 20%, the material will be defined
as earth; in the opposite case, it is debris
The materials have different properties which make
them differently in different conditions
Soils contain clays that behave abnormally when they
get saturated

C. Role of Slope and Topography

The slope angle affects the relative

magnitude of driving forces on slopes

As the angle of the slope increases the
driving forces increase
Thus, landslides on steep slopes are more
common
75-85% of landslides are associated with
urban areas on slopes greater than 15% or
8.5 degrees
Mass wasting associated with slopes are:
debris- avalanches, mudflows (fine material)
and debris flows (coarse material)

D. Role of Climate and Vegetation

Climate controls the nature and extent of

precipitation and moisture content of

slope material
Vegetation
Provides a cover that cushions the impact of rain
falling on slopes, facilitates infiltration of water into
the slope and reduces the potential for grain by
grain erosion of surface
Has root systems that helps to keep the slope
together
Adds weight to the slope
Problems arise when vegetation is changed or
removed from the slope

Role of Climate and Vegetation

Deforestation of slopes:

human activity may remove

vegetation that shelters the
slope and provides a network of
roots to hold slope material in
place
Over 100 people were killed
when devastating mudslides
destroyed parts of two Italian
villages in May 1998. The
mudslides followed heavyrains
and were blamed on poor land
management practices,
including deforestation

E. Role of
Water

Landslides are usually associated with water

Dry unconsolidated grains will form a pile with a slope

angle determined by the angle of repose

The angle of repose is the steepest angle at which a pile
of unconsolidated grains remains stable, and is controlled
by the frictional contact between the grains
In general, for dry materials the angle of repose
increases with increasing grain size, but usually lies
between about 30 and 37o

Role of
Water

Slightly wet unconsolidated materials exhibit a

very high angle of repose because surface

tension between the water and the solid grains
tends to hold the grains in place

Role of Water

When the material becomes saturated with water, the angle

of repose is reduced to very small values and the material

tends to flow like a fluid
This is because the water gets between the grains and
eliminates grain to grain frictional contact
Another aspect of water that affects slope stability is fluid
pressure
In some cases fluid pressure can build in such a way that
water can support the weight of the overlying rock mass
When this occurs, friction is reduced, and thus the shear
strength holding the material on the slope is also reduced,
resulting in slope failure

F. Role of Time
Forces on slopes often change with time
Both driving and resisting forces may change

with the seasons as moisture content and

water table position change
Also processes like creep takes place not in a
single season or single year, it takes a few
years for failure

G. Role of
Troublesome
earth materials

Liquefaction: liquefaction occurs when loose sediment

becomes oversaturated with water and individual grains

loose grain to grain contact with one another as water
gets between them
This can occur as water is added as a result of heavy
rainfall or melting of ice or snow
It can also occur gradually by slow infiltration of water
into loose sediments

Role of Troublesome
earth materials

Swelling clays: These are soils that contain a high

proportion of a type of clay mineral called smectites or

montmorillinites
In dry season, such clays dry out, the loss of water
causes the volume to decrease and the clays to shrink or
compact (This process is referred to as
hydrocompaction)
But these clay minerals expand when they become wet
as water enters the crystal structure and increases the
volume of the mineral

H. Triggering Events: Shocks

A mass-wasting event can occur any time a slope

becomes unstable
Sometimes, as in the case of creep or solifluction,
the slope is unstable all of the time and the
process is continuous
But other times, triggering events cause a sudden
instability to happen
Shocks - Minor shocks like heavy trucks rambling
down the road, trees blowing in the wind, or
human made explosions can also trigger masswasting events
A sudden shock, such as an earthquake may
trigger slope instability, eg. Turnagain Heights
Alaska, 1964

Triggering Events:
Shocks-Turnagain
Heights Alaska, 1964
During an earthquake on

March 27, 1964, Turnagain

Heights a suburb of Alaska,
broke into a series of slump
blocks that slid toward the
ocean
This area was built on
sands and gravels overlying
marine clay
The upper clay layers were
relatively stiff, but the
lower layers consisted of a
sensitive clay, as discussed
earlier
The slide moved about 610
m toward the ocean,
breaking up into a series of
blocks

Triggering Events: ShocksTurnagain Heights

Alaska,
1964
As the slide moved into the

ocean, clays were extruded

from the toe of the slide
The blocks rotating near the
front of the slide, eventually
sealed off the sensitive clay
layer preventing further
extrusion
This led to pull-apart basins
being formed near the rear of
the slide and the oozing
upward of the sensitive clays
into the space created by the
extension
75 homes on the top of the
slide were destroyed by the
movement of the mass of
material toward the ocean.

Triggering Events: Slope Modification

Modification of a slope either by humans or by natural

causes can result in changing the slope angle so that it is

no longer at the angle of repose
A mass-wasting event can then restore the slope to its
angle of repose

Triggering Events: Undercutting

Streams eroding their banks or surf action along

a coast can undercut a slope making it unstable

Landslide

Slide with principal parts labeled. Not all are found on

every slump

Classification of slope/mass movement (wasting)

There are various ways of classifying mass movement
One classification (by Sharpe) is base on

a) the dominant kind of movement: slide or flow

b) the relative rate of movement: fast or slow
c) the kind of material rock waste or bed rock and
d) the relative content of ice or water in the moving mass
(table in the next slide)
There is a broad international agreement that the definitive
criteria of mass-wasting should be: A more favored
classification of slope movement (the favored term for
mass-wasting by engineers) looks at the relationship of
slope movement with engineering practices
So they define slope movement as a downward and
outward movement of slope-forming bedrock, rock debris,
and earth (fine-grained fragmental debris)
It means that every kind of mass movement is called a
landslide

lassification of mass movement

Type of material
Bedrock

Type of movement

Engineering soils
Predominantly Predominantly
fine
coarse

Falls

Rockfall

Topples

Rock topple Earth topple

Debris topple

Rock slump Earth slump

Debris slump

Rock block
slide

Earth block
slide

Debris block
slide

Earth slide

Debris slide

Rotational
Slides

Translational

Few units

Many units Rock slide

Lateral spreads

Flows

Earth fall

Debris fall

Rock spread Earth spread

Debris spread

Rock flow

Debris flow

Earth flow

Rock
avalanche

Debris
avalanche

(Deep creep) (Soil creep)

Complex and compound

Combination in time and/or space of two or

more principal types of movement

Types of landslides (mass wasting)

Creep is a very slow flowage
Flowage - downslope movement of unconsolidated material in

which particles move and mix within the mass, which stays in
contact with the slope
Sliding is the downslope movement of a coherent block of earth
material which stays in contact with the slope
Falling is free fall of earth material from the free face (cliff) of a
slope
Subsidence is sinking of a mass of earth material below the
level of the surrounding material, this may happen on slopes or
even on flat ground

Soil creep

It is an imperceptible and non accelerating downslope

movement
It is most common in weathered rock debris on slopes,
but the term is also applied to the slow movement of
otherwise unweathered joint blocks
Soil creep or rock creep are the respective subordinate
terms
The material moving downslope is known as colluvium

Common effects of creep

Creep

Flow
Incoherent rock debris may be sufficiently

mobilized so that it flows like a viscous fluid

Dry flows in sands or silts are known, but most
flows are saturated with water
Rates of movement are greater than creep
But rates from imperceptibly slow to tragically
rapid mud flows and avalanch flows typically
move as lobes or tongues
If soil or talus is saturated with water, the soggy
mass may move down-hill a few centimetres a
year
This type of movement is called solifluction
(literally soil flow)

Debris flow, Earth

flow,
Mud flow

La Conchita landslide in Ventura County, California, January 10, 2005,

These three terms are applied to types of mass wasting very similar to
solifluction
They are somewhat more rapid and they commonly flow among
valleys, whereas solifluction sheets or lobes cover an entire hillside
with moving debris
These three terms form a series of progressively higher water content
but are often used interchangeably
Debris flows have 20-80% particles coarser than sand sizes, whereas
earth flows and mud flows are 80 %or more mud or sand
Mud flows is the most liquid end member of the series

Slide

Fig. shows conditions for rockslides on bedding planes after

lubrication by water
Mass-wasting wherein a mass of rock or weathered debris
moves downhill along discrete shear surfaces is defined as a
slide
The general word landslide is frequently extended to include
all rapid forms of flow, slide or fall because most of the
movement in all three categories is along surfaces of
separation
Subcategories of slide include slump, rock slide, or block
glide, and debris slide or debris avalanche

Slump

Fig. Slump on curved surfaces in unconsolidated or other

week formations with production of back-tilted beds that

were originally flat
Slump is the form of slide most common in thick,
homogeneous cohesive material such as clay
The surface of failure beneath a slump block is spoon
shaped, concave upward or outward
The most simple form of slide is a rock slide or block glide
The movement is relatively rapid and most commonly occurs
where steeply dipping bedded strata or sheeting nearly
parallels the surface slope

Slope stabilisation/prevention and Mitigation Methods

All slopes are susceptible to mass movement hazards if a

triggering event occurs

Thus, all slopes should be assessed for potential mass movement
hazards
Slope movements can sometimes be avoided by employing
engineering techniques to make the slope more stable.Among
them are:
Retaining walls could be built to stabilize a slope
Steep slopes can be sprayed with concrete covered with a wire
mesh to prevent rock falls
If the slope is made of highly fractured rock, rock bolts may be
emplaced to hold it together
Drainage pipes could be inserted into the slope to more easily
allow water to get out and avoid increases in fluid pressure, the
possibility of liquefaction, or increased weight due to the addition
of water.
Oversteepened slopes could be graded or terraced to reduce the
slope to the natural angle of repose
Elimination of weak strata or other potential failure zones
Provision of in situ reinforcement of the ground
Some slopes, however, cannot be stabilized. In these cases, humans should avoid

Retaining Wall Types

Retaining Walls
An earth retaining structure can be considered
as one of four types:
a) Gravity Walls
b) Embedded Walls
c) Reinforced Soil Walls
d) Hybrid Systems

a) Gravity Walls
Gravity walls are made from a large mass of stone,

composite materials, or concrete

Gravity walls depend on the size and weight of the wall
mass to resist pressures from the soil and water or from
sliding, overturning
Gravity walls often lean back into the retained soil to
increase wall stability
Low rising gravity walls are made from mortar less stone of
segmental concrete units
Dry-laid gravity walls are more flexible and do not require a
rigid footing below frost
Before the 20th century, tall retaining walls were often
gravity walls made from large masses of stone or concrete
Today, taller retaining walls are more often built as
composite gravity walls. They are the following three types:
Mass Construction
Semi-Mass Construction
Reinforced Construction

Gravity Walls: Mass construction

Mass construction walls can be made into 5
types:
Concrete
Concrete with Masonry Facing
Unreinforced Masonry
Gabions
Crib

Concrete
Gravity
Walls

common example of gravity walls

commonly designed today
They rely on their mass or weight for
stability
The system consists of concrete
masonry units which are placed
without the use of mortar
This means that the are dry stacked on
top of each other
They rely on the combination of
interlock and mass to prevent sliding
or overturning
The concrete retaining wall units can
also be used in combination with
horizontal layers of soil reinforcement
Mass concrete walls are suitable for
retained heights up to 3 m
The shape of cross section of the wall
is decided by the required stability, the
wall appearance, the use of space in
front of the wall, and method of
construction

constructed with masonry cladding

Concrete with separated from the concrete by a
cavity
masonry facing
This allows a certain amount of
differential movement between the
masonry and the concrete
However, for the masonry the
inclusion of separate movement joints
is also required
This type of wall is used for situations
where the incompatibility of masonry
used as a structural facing to concrete
would set up internal stresses
Wall ties must be cast into the
concrete wall and built into the
masonry cladding
Stainless steel ties are commonly
used
Note that it should not be used where
there is a risk of impact damage, e.g.
highways

Gabions
Gabions are free-draining

walls constructed by filling

large baskets with broken
stone fragments
Retention is achieved from a
combination of the stones
weight and its interlocking
and frictional strength
The maximum height is
approximately 10 m
They are constructed with
either a stepped face or a
stepped back

Gabions

Gabions

Crib Wall
Crib walls are
constructed by
interlocking individual
boxes made from
timber, (temporary
works), pre-cast
concrete or metal
members
The boxes are filled with
crushed stone or other
coarse granular
materials to create a

Bin-Walls are a system of

Bin wall

adjoining closed-faced bins

that are composed of sturdy
lightweight steel members
and are easily bolted
together at the job site.
The bins are filled with sand
or a similar material, which
ultimately forms a gravity
retaining structure.
Roads or other structures can
be constructed on top of or
adjacent to the structure.
Backfilled with reasonable
care, they transform the soil
mass into an economical

Semi-Mass Construction
Semi-mass construction is a

compromise between simplicity of

mass concrete and low material
content of reinforced concrete
Can be cost effective if reinforcement
details are kept simple

Reinforced Construction
Reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry walls
on spread foundations are gravity structures in
which the stability against overturning is provided
by the weight of the wall together with the weight
of the retained material which rests on the slab
The following are the main types of wall:
Concrete Cantilever
Counterfort / Buttressed
Precast
Masonry
Prestressed

Concrete
Cantilever

Cantilever walls or stem walls of reinforced concrete are

the commonest type of gravity wall

They are composed of a vertical or inclined slab
monolithic with a slab base
Simple forms of cantilever wall utilize the weight of the
earth or backfill on the heel
This weight is added to the concrete weight to provide
resistance against active thrust

Counter
fort/Buttressed
wall

When building a load bearing wall,

it is to be supported from falling over

One way to accomplish this is to use
buttress walls
Counterfort walls are cantilever walls
strengthened with counterforts
monolithic with the back of the wall
slab and base slab
The counterforts act as tension
stiffeners and connect the wall slab
and the base to reduce the bending
and shearing stresses
Counterforts are used for high walls
with heights greater than 8 to 12 m.
The best part of a buttress wall is that
you can support your main wall while
still keeping an open feel in the house

Embedded Walls
Embedded walls are constructed from

contiguous or interlocking individual piles or

diaphragm wall-panels to form a continuous
structure
Embedded walls may be cantilever, anchored
or propped
Cantilever walls derive their equilibrium from
the lower embedded depth of the wall
They rely on the passive resistance of the soil
in front of the lower part of the wall to provide
stability
Whereas Anchored or Propped walls derive their
equilibrium partly from the embedded portion of
the wall and partly from an anchorage or prop

Types of Embedded Walls

Sheet Pile
Soldier / King Pile
Bored Pile
Diaphragm

Sheet Pile
Wall

Steel sheet pile walls

are constructed by
driving steel sheets
into a slope or
excavation
Their most common
use is within
temporary deep
excavations
They are considered
to be most
economical where
retention of higher
earth pressures of
soft soils is required

retaining Structure with drainage pipes protects

the road

Anchored wall

Anchored walls are not

only supported by their

broad base and the
passive force of the soil
infront, but also
anchored rods which
support the top of the
wall as well.
Anchored sheet pile
walls are suitable for
retaining depths of soil
up to about 10-12m.

Soldier Pile Wall

Soldier piles, also known

as Berlin Walls, are

constructed of wide flange
steel H sections spaced
about 2 - 3 m apart, driven
prior to excavation
As the excavation
proceeds, horizontal timber
sheeting (lagging) is
inserted behind the H pile
flanges
The horizontal earth
pressures are concentrated
on the soldier piles
because of their relative
rigidity compared to the
lagging

Bored pile

Bored piles are sometimes referred to as drilled piers

These are cast-in-place piles
They range from 600mm to 6000mm in diameter with depth that can

reach down to 100 meters

Bored piles are installed by first removing the soil by a drilling process
and then constructing the pile by placing concrete in the hole
The simplest form of construction consists of drilling an unlined or
unprotected hole and filling it with concrete
Complications that may arise such as difficult ground conditions and the
presence of ground water have led to the development of special drilling
technologies
For cohesionless soils (sands, gravels, silts), whether under the water
table or not, the pile borehole must be supported using steel casing or
stabilizing muds such as bentonite suspension.

Diaphragm Wall

The principle of a Diaphragm Wall is to construct a retaining wall within a slot

excavated in the ground

Diaphragm walls are commonly used in crowded areas for retention systems
and permanent foundation walls
They can be installed in close proximity to existing structures with minimal loss
of support to existing foundations
Once completed the diaphragm wall can be used as a retaining wall for a
multitude of applications like basement walls, earth retaining wall, water storage
tank & cut off walls,

Diaphragm Wall

Diaphragm walls form from reinforced concrete and are constructed as normal
cast-in-place walls with support which become part of the main structure
The slurry trench method is commonly used which involves the excavation of
alternating panels along the proposed wall using bentonite slurry to prevent the
sides of the excavation collapsing
The panel dimensions are approximately 50 to 100 cm thick and up to 7m height,
extending to the excavation bottom
Panel is excavated as slurry is pumped in
Prefabricated reinforcing cage is lowered into the excavation

Reinforced Soil Walls

Reinforced soils are used:
as an integral part of the design
as an alternative to the use of reinforced
concrete or other solutions on the grounds of
economy or as a result of the ground conditions
to act as temporary works
as remedial or improvement works to an
existing configuration
This category covers walls which use soil,
reinforced with reinforcing elements, to provide a
stable earth retaining system and includes soil
nailing and reinforced soil

 It is the act of improving soil strength for

increasing the stability and steepness of slopes

and reducing the earth pressures behind the
retaining walls and abutments
The reinforcement is done by using
geosynthetics, steel grids or meshes
In reinforced earth walls steel or geosynthetic
soil reinforcements are placed in layers within a
controlled granular fill
Soil reinforcement is used for retaining walls,
bridge abutments, dams, seawalls, and dikes
Mixing a soil amendment such as lime into
weak clayey soil and recompacting (often done
under the road base in highway construction) is
one example
Installing plastic or composite webbing layers
(called geogrid material) alternating with
compacted soil (often done on steep roadway
embankments to improve strength and
stability) is another example
By spraying shotcrete also the soil can be
reinforced

Reinforced soil

Soil Nailing

Natural soil shows relatively low levels

of tensile strength and shear strength

Soil nailing serves to improve the
load-bearing behaviour of natural soil
The basic principle of soil nailing is to
place reinforcement in bar form socalled soil nails into the natural soil
It is integrated into the structure as a
structural component
The original subsoil is therefore
turned into a composite body
In terms of load-bearing behaviour, it
is similar to a gravity wall capable of
taking up external forces so that the
In a number of actual applications,
soil nailing proved to be the only
economically viable solution
This refers to slope stabilization
projects as well as to the preparation
of excavation pits under extremely
difficult conditions

Reinforced
Earth

These are mechanically stabilized earth walls

These are made using steel or geosynthetic soil

reinforcements which are placed in layers within

a controlled granular fill
These retaining walls are gravity structures
They consis of alternating layers of granular
backfill and reinforcing strips with a modular
precast concrete facing
They are used extensively in transportation and
other civil engineering applications
Reinforced Earth is ideal for very high or heavyloaded retaining walls because of its high loadcarrying capacity,
The inherent flexibility of the composite material
makes it possible to build on compressible
foundation soils or unstable slopes
These give good performance with low
materials volume and a rapid, predictable and
easy construction process
They make reinforced earth an extremely costeffective solution

Mechanically stabilized earth

walls
The combination of reinforcements and earth

create a composite structure which is internally

stable as long as sufficient reinforcements are
placed to within the earth to counteract the
shear forces that result when soil is placed at a
90 degree angle of repose.
Originally invented in the late 1960's by Henri
Vidal a French architect and engineer,
Reinforced Earth which consists of soil, steel
strip soil reinforcements and precast concrete
facing panels was the first MSE system.
Since that time other systems utilizing different
facing systems (wire and concrete masonry
blocks) and different soil reinforcement types
(welded wire mesh, geogrids, geotextiles) have

What is the difference between soil

nailing and reinforced
earth?
A
soil nailed wall will
have been built
downward with the soil
being reinforced in situ,
A Reinforced Earth wall

is constructed by
building an
embankment that is
then strengthened as
the work progresses
This makes an
essential difference

Hybrid Walls
These are walls which combine elements of
both externally stabilized walls (e.g.
gravity walls) and internally stabilized walls
(e.g. reinforced soil)
Anchored Earth
Tailed Gabion
Tailed Concrete Block
Miscellaneous

Hybrid Walls
Any wall which uses facing units (of any type)

tied to rods or strips (of any material) which

have their ends anchored into the ground is
an anchored earth wall
To aid anchorage, the ends of the strips are
formed into a shape designed to bind the strip
at the point into the soil

Tieback walls
Tiebacks and tiedowns can
Columbia Tower, Seattle,
Washington

be installed in virtually any

ground condition using
rotary percussion or downthe-hole hammer tooling
In the construction of
tiebacks, bars or cables are
placed in predrilled holes
with concrete grout.
Cables are commonly high
strength, prestressed steel
tendons
To protect the tie rod from
corrosion, it is coated with
paint or asphaltic materials

Tailed Gabion

Gabion elements fitted

to geogrid 'tails'
extending into
supported soil
The first structure on
record to use a
combination of gabions
and mechanically
reinforced soil was built
in Sabah, Malaysia in
1979
A vertical skin of
gabions was anchored
to the backfill using
metal strips

Some other Slopestabilization methods: Chicken

wire (top left) and concrete (top right cover
exposed slopes

What is the factor of safety and how does it apply to slope stability?
In what ways does water added to a slope affect its stability?
Define the following (a) angle of repose, (b) sensitive soils,
What are the major triggering events for slope movement processes?
Is it possible to determine whether or not a slope has stability problems?
What kinds of things can be done to mitigate against slope movement
hazards?