SLOPE FAILURES IN TERTIARY EXPANSIVE OC CLAYS

This paper deals with slope stability in an oddly behaved, expansive, overconsolidated, stiff tertiary clay of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The properties were not fully recognized until a recent major failure occurred during excavation on a 26-m-high, 250-m-wide slope constructed for the new Carvalho Pinto Motorway. A comprehensive site investigation was carried out that involved laboratory and in situ tests and successfully employed the Marchetti dilatometer. Back analyses of failures showed two different mechanisms, one leading to shallow failure in tertiary clays owing to expansion, followed by surface degradation or slaking. The other mechanism was lack of shear strength in the clay to resist stresses imposed by a high steep slope. This paper gives site investigation data, discusses the causes and back analyses of failures, and presents the final slope design.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/3519342
• Corporate Authors:

  American Society of Civil Engineers

  345 East 47th Street
  New York, NY  United States  10017-2398
• Authors:
  • Ortigao, JAR
  • Loures, TRR
  • Nogueira, C
  • Alves, L S
• Publication Date: 1997-9

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 812-817
• Serial:
  • Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
  • Volume: 123
  • Issue Number: 9
  • Publisher: American Society of Civil Engineers
  • ISSN: 1090-0241
  • Serial URL: http://ojps.aip.org/gto

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Clay; Degradation failures; Expansive clays; Field tests; Groundwater; Laboratory tests; Overconsolidation; Sand; Shear strength; Slaking; Slope failure; Slope stability; Soils; Stability analysis; Water table
• Uncontrolled Terms: Site investigation
• Geographic Terms: Sao Paulo (Brazil)
• Old TRIS Terms: Groundwater level; Shear strength of soils; Tertiary clays
• Subject Areas: Geotechnology; Highways; Hydraulics and Hydrology; I42: Soil Mechanics;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00742130
• Record Type: Publication
• Contract Numbers: NA16CP-0220-01
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 26 1997 12:00AM