Abstract
On 27 November 2003 at approximately 12 pm a failure occurred without warning on a 52° mudstone slope adjacent to the customer carpark of a large department store in Avilés, Spain. No physical damage was caused to the department store but a high-pressure water main in the upper part of the slope was ruptured. A major concern was the proximity of a six-storey residential building at a distance of only 10 m from the crown failure scarp. Additionally, the resulting spoil caused the closure of the goods access road and rendered unusable numerous parking spaces. The estimated volume of the failure was c . 2000 m 3 . Following the failure, emergency remedial works were implemented to ensure the short-term stability of the failed mass and prevent possible retrogression of the failure towards the buildings. Geotechnical instrumentation was installed to monitor the stability of the area. A back-analysis of the failure was undertaken and, in conjunction with the results of the site characterization, led to a definitive solution: a rock-fill gravity retaining wall and an upper anchored rock-fill gravity retaining wall were designed and constructed, and the water main was re-routed away from the slope.
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