Slope Stability Analysis in Anisotropic Winnipeg Clays

Abstract

Two major aspects of an investigation dealing with the stability of natural and cut slopes in the Winnipeg area are described. The first concerns an experimental investigation of the anisotropic shear strength characteristics of the layered Lake Agassiz clays and the second is a study of the mechanism of failure for slopes in these layered clays.Four main types of clay were investigated and it was found that the effective shear strength parameters were greater for failure across the layers than for failure along the layers. Residual shear strength parameters were also determined.Stability analyses were carried out for representative slope cross sections using circular and noncircular failure surfaces, taking into account the anisotropic shear strength effects measured in the laboratory tests.Factors of safety were found for the conventional method of analysis assuming circular arc failure surfaces and isotropic shear strength properties. These factors of safety were found to be up to 0.5 greater than those obtained from noncircular failure surfaces which partially passed along the layers and so mobilized the lower shear strength properties of these layers.