Stability analysis of unstable slopes with reinforcements and by the use of FLAC software

Abstract

Failures of Unstable slopes have been a major disaster for the people of the world. It causes a lot of damage to public life as well as properties. Therefore proper analysis of the unstable slopes needs to be done with proper installation of nails to have adequate “factor of Safety” so that the slopes should not fail. There are various methods available for the nalysis of the existing slopes and to find the “Factor of safety”. Some of the common methods used in this regard are the “Friction circle method”, “Bishop’s method” etc. But all these methods are tedious and time consuming. But with the use of “FLAC” software, it has been possible to determine the “Factor of Safety” of the existing slope easily. Also the time consumed is very less. The properties of a soil nail are studied in this project. The nail parameters, such as the bond strength, tensile strength, and diameter were studied in detail. The variation of “Factor of Safety” with the change of these parameters were observed and tabulated. Then the detailed optimal design of a given slope was carried out and proper combination of nails was determined by trial and error. The finally designed slope has a “Factor of Safety” equal to 1.61 with compared to 0.88 when it was not reinforced.