Role of pore water pressures in embankment stability

Abstract

This paper discusses the relationship between climate, in the form of soil moisture deficit, the presence of trees and pore water pressures in railway embankments. The pore water pressure criteria used in the assessment of slope stability by London Underground Ltd are presented and examined in the light of data gathered during the particularly wet winter of 2000–2001. This unusually persistent wet period caused the pore water pressures in some embankments on the London Underground network to increase to unprecedented levels. The results indicated that in some instances the reduction in pore water pressure that tall deciduous trees were assumed to provide could not be relied upon.