Quantifying The Role of Vegetation in Slope Stability

Abstract

Soil erosion and landslides are the two great concerns to the land managers in the world. The presence of root system in the soil plays good role in increasing the stability of the slope .The hydrological and geo mechanical effects due to the vegetation increase the stability of the slope. The hydrological effect due to the vegetation is related to the soil suction regime and the geo mechanical effect is related to the reinforcement provided by the root network in soil. In this project, the mechanical effect of vegetation on the slope stability is calculated. The finite element package PLAXIS 3D version 2013 is used for stability analysis of the slope. This study also highlights the use of reliability analysis in slope stability. Reliability analysis is performed on the slope which is covered with vegetation. The limit state function is developed by using the linear response surface model. The two level full factorial design is used for the design of experiments (DoE). The reliability index (ß) is calculated by using the first order reliability method. The standard USACE chart is used to calculate the probability of failure (Pf) of the slope