7.

0 Question And Discussion

1.) For some cases, give the recommended value of safety factors for the rock slope in
civil engineering / construction industry with some justification.
Factor of Safety (FS)
ypical target design Factor of Safety (FS) values range from 1.! to 1."# however,
$ased on engineering judgment, values outside of this range may $e appropriate,
depending on the circumstances. he minimum FS to $e used in sta$ility analyses for
a specific rock slope depends on factors such as%
1. he degree of uncertainty in the sta$ility analysis inputs# the most important
$eing the amount of intact rock, rock mass strength, discontinuity spacing,
discontinuity shear strength and groundwater conditions.
&. he level of investigation and data collection.
!. 'osts of constructing the slope to $e more sta$le.
(. 'osts, risks to the travelling pu$lic, risks to the roadway, and other
conse)uences should the slope fail.
". *hether the slope is temporary or permanent.
&.) +escri$e and e,plain the rock slope sta$ili-ation method.
.ngineering and structural methods for sta$ili-ing slopes can $e grouped into four
categories%
a) Excavation and filling techniques. his would include e,cavating the toe of
an earth flow until successive failures result in a sta$le slope, removing and
replacing failed material with lighter, more sta$le material, or recompacted
de$ris, e,cavating to unload upper portions of a mass failure, and filling to
load the lower portions of a mass failure (most likely in conjunction with other
loading or restraining structures).
$) Drainage techniques. his would include efforts to remove or disperse
surface water (as discussed in 'hapter (), drainage of tension cracks, using
rock fill underlain $y filter cloth to prevent upward migration of water into the
road prism, insertion of trench drains, perforated, hori-ontal drains, or
drainage galleries, insertion of vertical drains or wells discharged $y syphons,
or pumps, and electro/osmosis (the use of direct current passing $etween well
points and steel rods placed midway $etween the rods to increase the drainage
rate) for drainage of low permea$ility soils.
c) Restraining structures. hese include retaining walls, piles, $uttresses,
counterweight fills, cri$s, $in walls, reinforced earth, and pre/stressed or post/
tensioned soil or rock anchors (Figure 01). 2rgani-ations such as highway
departments and railroads have developed charts and ta$les giving earth
pressures for the design of retaining walls that re)uire a minimum of
computation. 3early all of these charts and ta$les are $ased on the 4ankine
formula which descri$es earth pressures as a function of unit weight and
internal angle of friction of the $ackfill material.
d) Miscellaneous techniques. 5routing can $e used to reduce soil permea$ility,
there$y preventing the ingress of groundwater into a failure -one. 'hemical
sta$ili-ation, generally in the form of ion e,change methods, is accomplished
$y high pressure injection of specificion e,change solutions into failure -ones
or into closely spaced pre/drillled holes throughout the movement -one.
6eating or $aking of clay soils can sometimes improve their strength, and,
rarely, free-ing of soils will help gain temporary sta$ility. 7ocali-ed electro/
osmosis can $e used to form in situ anchors or tie/$acks. Suppression of
natural electro/osmosis can $e used to reduce unfavora$le groundwater
pressures. 8lasting is sometimes used to disrupt failure surfaces and to
improve drainage.
!.) he differences assessment of the rock slope and soil slope.
S297S 23 S72:.S %
7arge/scale geologic structures provide the initial framework upon which landscape
development proceeds. Finer details of landscapes (i.e. individual landforms) are
usually determined $y +9FF.4.39;7 .42S923.. ..g. domed strata provide rock
layers dipping away radially from a central high point# differential erosion produces
inward/facing scarps (S), outward/facing dipslopes (+) and radial strike valleys (S<).
Strength and Stress
9n the conte,t of geomorphology, strength refers to the a$ility to resist $eing moved
$y erosional processes, which normally operate in a downslope direction. he force
e,erted $y erosional processes (including gravity) is a S6.;4 S4.SS directed
downslope and causing a mass of rock or soil to shear over the underlying material.
'ontrols 2n Soil 'haracteristics
he characteristics of soil depend on% parent material# climate# vegetation# slope.
1. :arent material% influences#
a. the rate of soil development (rate of weathering)
$. soil composition e.g. shales produce a lot of clay# sandstone produces sandy soil
c. physical properties of soil e.g. permea$ility/drainage (num$er, si-e and connectivity
of pore spaces)# shrink/swell potential (amount of e,pansive clay)# cohesive strength
(clay content / clayey soils are =sticky= / this aids cohesion).