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Stability And Evolution Of Planar And Concave Slopes Under Unsaturated And Rainfall Conditions, Arash Hassanikhah, Eric C. Drumm

Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science Publications and Other Works

Natural slopes are often observed to have a concave, convex, or a combination concave/convex profile, yet constructed slopes are traditionally designed with planar cross-sectional geometry. In this paper, the stability of two planar slopes was compared with that of companion concave slopes, designed to have similar factors of safety (FOS) under gravity loading. The stability of these slopes was then investigated in response to a suction event followed by a precipitation event, and it was shown that both the planar and the concave slopes experienced similar changes in stability. Additional analyses were conducted with a simulated erosion mechanism to investigate …