Formerly Design Technical Guideline No.

20 DTG-20

LPMit Design Tips LPMit-DT-11

Tips for Stability Assessment of Man-made Slopes

below Debris Resisting Barriers

As a general practice, the geotechnical design of debris-resisting

barriers (flexible or rigid) should include an assessment of the effects of
the barrier (including loading from the foundation and deposition of
landslide debris behind the barrier) on slope stability, as well as the design
of any necessary stabilisation measures to the existing man-made slope
affected.

 Recommendations
WGGC paper No. 3/2013 provides recommendations on the
acceptance of the slope stability assessment on man-made slope affected
by debris-resisting barriers. The related recommendations are given
below:

 For consequence-to-life (CTL) Cat. 1, 2 & 3 slopes, the overall slope

stability should be assessed and where necessary stabilisation
measures should be implemented to achieve minimum FoS of 1.2, 1.1
and 1.0 respectively, due to deposition of a design event landslide
debris behind the barrier.

 The slope stabilisation effects of the barrier foundation (e.g. the

residual load-carrying capacity of piles and embedded sections of
anchors/tie-backs after impact, etc.) may be incorporated in the
stability assessment.

Meanwhile, the overall slope stability including the barrier but

without debris deposition should also be assessed to meet the design
standards given in the Geotechnical Manual for Slope (GEO, 1984).
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Formerly Design Technical Guideline No. 20 DTG-20

In particular, for flexible barriers using empirical design approach,

the debris volume to be used in the overall stability assessment of the man-
made slope should be based on the largest previous landslides identified in
the natural terrain area within 100 m above the barrier (DPN 140).

Regarding the flexible barriers using holistic risk mitigation strategy,

there is no need to assess the effect on slope stability due to the deposition
of landslide debris behind the barrier as no past persistent landslides are
indicated.

Useful References
DPN 140. Geotechnical Control on Proprietary Flexible Barrier System
for Landslide Protection.

WGGC Paper No. 3/2013. Stability of Man-made Slopes Affected by

Debris Retained Behind Landslide Debris-resisting Barriers. 65th
WGGC Meeting held on 14.5.2013.

GEO (1984). Geotechnical Manual for Slopes (Second Edition).

Geotechnical Engineering Office, Hong Kong, 295p.

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