Abstract
Soil-rock slopes are widely distributed in central or western China. With the development of transportation, many subgrades are being built on mountainsides and therefore, slope stability has to be estimated under high loadings. To obtain better estimation results, a new rock contour establishing algorithm was developed, capable of considering interlock effect between rocks. Then, computed tomography (CT) and unconfined triaxial tests with ring top loadings were conducted. Based on rock distribution characteristics (obtained by CT photos) and the appearance of shear failure surfaces in slopes under ring top loadings, four rock skeleton status and five shear failure surface developing models were introduced. Based on the developed rock contour establishing algorithm, ten groups (twelve models per group) were established and calculated by finite element method (FEM). After this, normalized ultimate loading increasing multiple N, which was the ultimate loading ratio of rock-containing slope to uniform soil slope, was introduced to evaluate the influence of rock distributions on slope stability. The value of N was increased with the increase of rock content due to rock skeleton status. The values of N in slopes with angular rocks were about three times higher than those with round rocks which was due to complex geometric shape and distribution characteristics of angular rocks. Then, considering different slope angles (50°–60°), rock contents (0%–60%), and rock shapes (round and angular), the ultimate loading increasing multiple N of soil-rock slopes under high loadings was calculated and suggested for engineering designs. Finally, based on the failure surfaces of numerical modes, three typical failure modes were developed, which could be reference for designers to deal with slopes.
Highlights
Soil-rock slopes consisted of low-strength soils and highstrength rocks [1,2,3] and are widely distributed around the world, especially in central and western China [4, 5]
The influence of rock distribution on the ultimate loading of slopes was discussed through finite element method (FEM) and three typical failure modes were obtained in soil-rock slopes
(2) According to CT section images in soil-rock mixtures with different rock contents and shapes, four typical rock skeleton status were developed based on rock distribution characteristics in specimens, including rock-float, rock-part, and rock-complete skeleton status. en, unconfined triaxial tests with ring top loadings were performed on specimens
Summary
Soil-rock slopes consisted of low-strength soils and highstrength rocks [1,2,3] and are widely distributed around the world, especially in central and western China [4, 5]. Emad et al [6] employed random rock establishment algorithm to study the stability of soil-rock slopes with different volumetric block proportions (VBP) and conducted low scale model tests to verify the obtained analytical results. Based on the calculation characteristics of above analysis methods and existing research results on soil-rock slope stability, considering compatibility with developed software for soil-rock slope models, FEM was used to analyze soil-rock slope stability in this paper. At shallow landslides near Changbai Mountain in China, Zhan et al [28] deeply investigated slope failure mechanism and belt failure extent It is blurred about instability modes of soil-rock slopes, especially under the effect of top loadings. En, using the proposed soil-rock slope establishing algorithm, several studies with different slope angles considering different rock contents and shapes were conducted on soil-rock slope stability under top loading. Based on statistical results, increasing multiple N of ultimate loading was suggested considering rock angles, shapes, and contents and three typical failure modes were developed for soil-rock slopes under top loading
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