A comparative study of slope stability analysis of Manganese slag stabilized soil to an ordinary soil

Abstract

Slopes are required in the construction of Highways, Railways, Earthen dams, canal banks, levees and at many other locations. The construction of embankment over the ground is not possible in a vertical way. The Soil can be piled up with slope only. The cost of earthwork is minimum if the slopes are steepest but the Steeper slopes are not safe as per stability conditions because it may fail in shear. The only force acting on the piled earth is gravity force. This gravitational force produces shear in the soil and causes slippage. The failure lead to loss of property and life. There is a lesser chance of slippage of soil if we provide more bottom width compared to its top width. But it requires more area and more earth to fill. So, it is uneconomical.In the present study, the soil was collected from the highway extension project, from the geotechnical investigation it was identified that the soil shear strength was quite low. To improve shear characteristics and to decrease the dry density of soil, it is to be stabilized with a lightweight material, possessing good frictional characteristics. A waste by-product was identified from the industry of nearest village called Manganese (Mn) slag. The soil was stabilized with various percentages of Mn slag, from the geotechnical characterization, an optimum % of slag is selected as 10 %. An embankment slope is assumed for further slope stability analysis. The analysis is carried out on two slopes, one is made with ordinary soil and the other is soil stabilized with optimum Mn slag %. Both stabilized soil embankment and ordinary soil embankment are analysed by using the Method of slices and the final results were compared.