Abstract
This study investigates the effects of rock fragments on pore water pressure and safety factor of a slope. The study was conducted using computer software SEEP/W and SLOPE/W for a slope with and without rock fragment in order to get value for the pore water pressure and safety factor of the slope. The study also been carried out on the rock fragment characteristics such as position (top, middle and bottom) and size (large, medium and small) to find out the effects of rock fragments on hydrologic response and slope stability. The results show that the rock fragments obstruct water flow on the slope and increase the pore water pressure. However, higher pore water pressure can cause the slope to become less stable. These indicate that the safety factor for the slope with rock fragment is lower than slope without the rock fragment. The results also showed that pore water pressure and seepage flow response are affected by different position of the rock fragment. At a lower position of the rock fragments, the pore water pressure is the highest. Therefore, the safety factors are smaller compared to other rock positions. On the other hand, the results show that the pore water pressure and safety factor of the slope are less influenced by the size of rock fragments.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bishop, A.W. (1954) The use of the slip circle in the stability analysis of slopes. Geotechnique, v.5, pp.7–17.
Cerda, A. (2001) Effects of rock fragment cover on soil infiltration, interrill runoff and erosion. European Jour. Soil Sci. v.52, pp.59–68.
Descroix, L., Viramontes, D., Vauclin, M., Barrios, G.J.L. and Esteves, M. (2001) Influence of soil surface features and vegetation on runoff and erosion in the Western Sierra Madre (Durango, Northwest Mexico). Catena, v.43, pp.115–135.
Figueiredo, T. and Poesen, J. (1998) Effects of surface rock fragment characteristics on interrill runoff and erosion of a silty loam soil. Soil and Tillage Res., v.46, pp.81–95.
Fioravante, V., Ghionna, V.N. and Pedroni, S. (1997) Centrifuge modelling of a geogrid reinforced foundation on soft cohesive soil. Proc. Internat. Conf.e Geosynthetics Asia, pp.65–72.
GEO-SLOPE INTERNATIONAL LTD. (2004) Seep/W user’s guide for finite element seepage analysis. GEO-SLOPE International Ltd., Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Guo, T., Wang, Q., Li, D. and Zhuang, J. (2010) Effect of surface stone cover on sediment and solute transport on the slope off fallow land in the semi-arid loess region of Northwestern China. Jour. Soils Sediments, v.10, pp.1200–1208.
Hung, K.C., Kosugi, K., Lee, T.H. and Misuyama, T. (2007) The effects of rock fragments on hydrologic and hydraulic responses along a slope. Hydrological Processes, v.21, pp.1354–1362.
Katra, I., Lavee, H. and Sarah, P. (2008) The effect of rock fragment size and position on topsoil moisture on arid and semi-arid hillslopes. Catena, v.72, pp.49–55.
Kosugi, K., Uchida, T. and Mizuyama, T. (2004) Numerical calculation of soil pipe flow and its effect on water dynamics in a slope. Hydrological Processes, v.18, pp.777–789.
Valentin, C. (1994) Surface sealing as affected by various rock fragment covers in west africa. Catena, v.23, pp.87–97.
Yair, A. and Lavee, H. (1977) Trends of sediment removal from arid scree slopes under simulated rain storms experiments. Hydrol. Sci. Bull, v.23, pp. 379–391.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mukhlisin, M., Naam, S.I. Effect of rock fragments on pore water pressure and slope stability at a hillslope. J Geol Soc India 86, 337–343 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-015-0320-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-015-0320-6