Abstract
This paper is a first attempt to improve the current method of projecting cut slopes - which is based, exclusively, on criterion of safety against failure--introducing a criterion of restriction of displacements. This concern is due to the necessity that the engineer has of avoiding the slope, though guaranteed against failure, from suffering movements (mostly at the top) that are technically, aesthetically, and psychologically unacceptable. This kind of problem is becoming critical throughout the enormous Brazilian territory, where very high cuts are built in residual terrains of weathered gneisses, granites, basalts, schistes, phylites, etc. The higher the slope, the larger the tendency to strain. The worst displacements are those that show the beginning of a separation (discontinuity) of the slope mass. However, even before the separation starts, displacements (with continuity) occur, with chances of provoking material damages. This paper tries to classify and quantify the displacements of a cut slope, and define what an allowable displacement is. It also tries to establish the preliminary ideas and concepts about the criterion of strain to be adopted, based on correlations between laboratory results and field observation. It is the purpose of the authors to attain, in first instance, an approximate solution for easy and practical engineering application. (TRRL)
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