Three-dimensional stability of locally loaded geocell-reinforced slopes by strength reduction method

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn reality, slopes rarely follow the plain strain conditions and to have a precise estimation of their stability, a 3D slope stability analysis should be conducted instead of resorting to simplistic, prevalent and more conservative 2D slope stability analysis. This is especially true for geocell-reinforced slopes for which the honeycomb structure of the geocells makes a 3D slope stability analysis inevitable. However, there has been no attempt to cover this issue so far. In this study, three-dimensional strength reduction method is employed to investigate the stability of slopes reinforced with geocells. Typical locally loaded slopes reinforced in the body with a single and three layers of geocell were modelled taking into account geocells having contact with their infill and surrounding soils. Then, effects of such contributing factors such as depth of the geocell layer placement, geocell pocket size, width of geocell layer, length of the geocell layer and slope inclination angle on the factor of safety and shape of the slip surface of slopes reinforced with a single geocell layer were studied thoroughly. Furthermore, considering three different geocell layer arrangements over the slope height, their superiority over each other in terms of slope stability was investigated.