Strengthening the Slope Beneath Bashtapia Castle at the Highest Expected Tigris River Level

Abstract

This study has been achieved using Geo-Studio Finite Element Software in two sections. First, to study the changes in pore water pressure (PWP) within the soil layers below Bashtapia Castle at different water levels of the river Tigris. The effect of these changes was in focus to check the slope stability of the Castle. On the other hand, the second section was to increase the safety factor using slope reinforcement using different spacings and lengths of the anchor’s rods. Modeling output showed that the factor of safety (FS) decreased from 2.83 to 0.838 when the water level raised from 0 to 7 m above the bottom slope layer. Accordingly, anchor bars were introduced in the model, and the safety factor increased. The slope layers were treated and strengthened using reinforcing anchor bars at different lengths and numbers. In general, the analysis results showed the positive effect of reinforcing bars on the stability of the castle slope. The FS of the slope castle increases with the increased length and number of anchors to a certain value, and then there is no effect of this increase on the FS value.