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DOI 10.1007/s10706-011-9446-5
REVIEW PAPER
Received: 3 February 2011 / Accepted: 8 September 2011 / Published online: 28 September 2011
Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011
1 Introduction
Soil bioengineering, use of vegetation in civil engineering design, is now an established practice in many
parts of the world and is considered as a practical
alternative to more traditional methods of soil stabilization such as soil nailing or geosynthetic reinforcement. These methods are mostly utilized in shallow
slope stabilization projects characterized by unstable
slopes with surface movement. To analyse the contribution of vegetation to the slope stability, one needs to
consider its hydrological, biological and mechanical
roles. However, throughout this study, focus will be
more specifically on the mechanical role.
Soil and roots show some similarities with respect
to structure and ductile reaction to strain. Both these
elements deform to a great extent before they break.
Their retaining capacity is not lost during deflection
and subsidence of the relevant slope.
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2 Slope Stability
Sloping ground can be unstable if the gravity forces
acting on a mass of soil exceed the shear strength
available at the base of the mass and within it (Barnes
2000). Skempton and Hutchinson (1969) classified
land sliding as shown in Fig. 1.
Generally, land sliding occurs when shear stress (s)
in the slope overcomes the related shear strength (sf),
and the safety factor F is
F sf s:
1
As mentioned earlier in the introduction, different
mechanical parameters can affect the shear strength of
the soil and consequently the slope safety factor, for
example pore water pressure, due to the fact that when
pore water pressure increases, safety factor decreases.
To analyse slope stability, there are different
methods depending on the method of movement.
2.1 Plane Translational Slide
As shown in Fig. 1, translational slides are commonly
controlled structurally by surface weakness such as
faults, joints, bedding planes, and contacts between
bedrock and upper soil layer. This method can be
applicable when the slip surface (bedding planes, etc.)
is parallel to the ground surface as shown in Fig. 2.
Barnes (2000) showed that if slip surface is under
the water table, safety factor will be:
F c0 tg/0 cos2 b cz cw z ch hw cz sin b cos b
2
where b = slip surface angle, z = slip surface depth,
c = balk and saturated soil unit weight, hw = water
table depth, cw = water unit weight c0 = effective
cohesion impact and /0 = effective angle of internal
friction.
As mentioned earlier, increase in c0 and /0 can
cause an increase in the safety factor F.
2.2 Circular Arc Analysis
This method assumes that the slip surface is an arc that
cuts the ground surface in a certain point, as shown in
Fig. 3. Safety factor in this case will be given by:
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123
280
F m nru
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281
Fig. 4 Hydromechanical
influence on the slope
stability (Greenway 1987)
7
7a
7b
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282
Fig. 6 Simple models; a limit equilibrium; b flexible reinforcement; c cable model (Tobias 1995)
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Tz 0 T L
8a
Ty 0 qyL
u0 qyL2 2Tz 0:
8b
8c
283
10
11
12
13
14
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284
As Fredlund and Morgensterns (1978) independent stress variable approach incorporates Eq. 12 and
MohrCoulomb circle, shear strength (s) would be:
s c0 r ua xua uw tg/0 :
15
16
17
123
18
285
c0 (kPa)
/0 ()
15.8
24.8
/b ()
Test procedure
Reference
18.1
9.6
27.3
21.7
37.3
28.5
16.2
Satija (1978)
20.3
29.0
12.6
Satija (1978)
15.5
28.5
22.6
Satija (1978)
11.3
29.0
16.5
Satija (1978)
23.7
22.5a
16.1
Escario (1980)
28.9
33.4
15.3
Consolidated drained
multistage triaxial
7.4
35.3
13.8
Consolidated drained
multistage triaxial
0.0
35.0
16.0
Consolidated drained
multistage triaxial
25.3
725.5
Consolidated drained
multistage direct shear
10
Average value
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286
Fig. 9 Horizontal
projection of contour lines
of the failure envelope onto
the s versus (r - ua)
(Fredlund and Morgenstern
1978)
21
123
287
7 Conclusion
The present study addresses the mechanism of roots
anchorage in soil slope. It is a priority because of the
effect of vegetation roots on the hazards of land
sliding, especially in subtropical and tropical areas
with dense herb coverage.
Since 1973, over 500 papers have been published
on the effect of root anchorage on slope stability. The
basic mechanisms to deal with the problem are
hydrological and mechanical mechanisms (Fig. 4).
The major influence of vegetation on slope segment
stability is shown in Fig. 5.
The following are the mechanical mechanisms of
root anchorage in slope stability:
Direct shear stress carried by the root (Fig. 6),
prevention of shallow mass stability failure, prevention of pulling-out at the end of slope and effect of
vegetation on slope stability via the effect on soil
characteristics such as matric suction, effective stress
pore water pressure and cohesion intercept.
Acknowledgments The authors are really grateful to
University Malaya and Professor N. Shokrpour from Shiraz
University of Medical sciences, Iran, for editing the manuscript
for English.
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