What is the role of tensile cracks in cohesive slopes?

Tang, Liansheng; Zhao, Zhanlun; Luo, Zhengxiu; Yi, Sun

doi:10.1016/j.jrmge.2018.09.007

Cited by 31 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…e in situ geological survey report shows that, due to the influence of dry-wet cycles [1], erosion caused by rainfall [2], and human disturbances, there may be a large number of initial cracks in the shallow slope, and the existence of these cracks will affect the stability of the slope [3,4]. When a slope with cracks is in a rainy environment, rainwater will invade the depths of the slope along the cracks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability Analysis of a Two-Layered Slope with Cracks by Finite Element Limit Analysis

Zhou

Liu

Huang

et al. 2020

Advances in Civil Engineering

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In this study, to support slope stability estimating engineering, the stability of a slope with cracks lying on two-layered slopes was investigated by a self-developed adaptive element limit analysis (AFELA) code. Upper bound (UB) and lower bound (LB) results of soil additional gravity factor SF within 4% relative error were obtained to quantify the effects of several factors, including the Moore‒Cullen strength ratio, angle of the slope, thickness of the top layer, length of the crack, angle of the crack, and crack’s distance from the edge. Typical failure patterns were also discussed for deeper insight into the two-layered slope stability with cracks. In addition, the results of the AFELA code were compared with the actual situation of the slope and existing commercial calculation software to verify the reliability of this investigation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability Analysis of a Two-Layered Slope with Cracks by Finite Element Limit Analysis

Zhou

Liu

Huang

et al. 2020

Advances in Civil Engineering

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“…With slope deformation, the tension zone appears on the upper of slope when the potential slip surface starts to penetrate. The stress field illustrates the question in Tang's literature (Tang et al, 2019) why the depth of a crack cannot develop downward without limitation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…The case shows a common failure process of landslides. Although, many landslide events (Steiakakis et al, 2009; Chen et al, 2018a; Tang et al, 2019;Fan et al, 2019) and field investigations (Fig. 1) have proven that crown cracks are the signal of slope metastability during the long-term slow deformation process, there are still some issues deserve researching, such as at what stage of slope deformation will the crown cracks form?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although landslide laboratory tests have been carried out to answer some of them (Tang et al, 2019), some data cannot be easily acquired from the laboratory tests, limiting exploring these questions. Questions such as why the depth of a crack cannot develop downward without limitation are still unexplained.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…And although these new methods can be used for slope stability analysis in theory, they lack large amounts of engineering validation compared to LEM and FEM, especially in the case involving cracks. As for the LEM, it is a classical method which has been used for the slope stability analysis involving cracks (Michalowski 2012;Michalowski 2013;Tang et al, 2019). However, there are many limitations in the LEM to analyze a problem with cracks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Investigation of the Role of Crown Crack in Cohesive Soil Slope and Its Effect on Slope Stability Based on Extended Finite Element Method

Bao

Zhang

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Tensile cracks in soil slopes, especially developing at the crown, have been increasingly recognized as the signal of slope metastability. In this paper, the role of crown cracks in natural soil slopes was investigated and their effect on stability was studied. A numerical slope model based on the extended finite element method (XFEM) simulating the tensile behavior of soil was used. Before the simulation, a numerical soil tensile test was applied to validate the use of XFEM on tensile behavior of soil. Slope failure was simulated by using strength reduction technique, which can determine the potential slip surface of slope. The simulation results show that the crown crack forms in natural soil slopes when the plastic zone starts penetrating, and therefore it is reasonable to consider the crown crack as the signal of slope metastability. A sensitivity analysis shows that cracks are at the position of the tension zone or very long can obviously affect the slope stability. The stress variation analysis from the initial deformation to slip surface penetration shows that the slope is at a state of compressive stress initially. When plastic zone starts to penetrate, the upper part of slope generates tension zone, but the extent of tension zone is limited until slope failure. This shows why tensile cracks are difficult to form and be stretched in the deep part of the slope. The application of XFEM on slope stability analysis can be used to assess the tensile strength of soil and predict slope failure disaster.

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Tensile strength of unsaturated coarse and fine-grained soils

Bulolo

Leong

Kizza

2021

Bull Eng Geol Environ

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Soils at the ground surface experience multiple cycles of drying and wetting. On drying, the soils experience shrinkage and cracks may appear. The development of cracks depends on the tensile strength of the soil. Such cracks increases the permeability of the soil and can cause slopes and earth structures to fail due to rainfall. Several tensile strength models have been proposed for unsaturated soils considering the effect of matric suction. However, the tensile strength models proposed are for either cohesionless (coarse-grained) or clayey (fine-grained) soils. The tensile strength models were shown to be different in their definition of suction stress and the presence or absence of a cohesion term. As tensile strength data of fine-grained soils with the same soil structure and soil-water characteristic curve data are lacking in the literature, Brazilian tensile tests and SWCC tests were conducted on compacted fine-grained soils from two residual soil formations. The test data highlighted the problem in the friction angle used in existing tensile strength models. Using a general form of the suction stress and the extended Mohr-Coulomb criterion with the Brazilian test Mohr circle, a new tensile strength model applicable to both coarse-grained and fine-grained soils was proposed. The proposed model was shown to perform better than existing models using independent data.

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What is the role of tensile cracks in cohesive slopes?

Cited by 31 publications

References 23 publications

Stability Analysis of a Two-Layered Slope with Cracks by Finite Element Limit Analysis

Stability Analysis of a Two-Layered Slope with Cracks by Finite Element Limit Analysis

Investigation of the Role of Crown Crack in Cohesive Soil Slope and Its Effect on Slope Stability Based on Extended Finite Element Method

Tensile strength of unsaturated coarse and fine-grained soils

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