Date of Graduation

12-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Civil Engineering (MSCE)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Civil Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

Michelle Barry

Committee Member

Clinton Wood

Second Committee Member

Norman Dennis

Keywords

Geophysics, Geotechnical Engineering, Limit Equilibrium, Slope Stability

Abstract

Slope failures in the United States alone cause millions of dollars in damage to infrastructure, threaten national monuments, create environmental hazards, and take an average of 25-50 lives a year. With the inevitable construction that occurs on slopes, it is imperative that the slopes be properly designed which requires a thorough understanding of slope grade, subsurface soil conditions, soil strength parameters, water table locations, and depth to bedrock across the entire site. The preferred method of data collection would be to use borings and other in-situ methods; however, sometimes due to cost constraints or site accessibility only a very limited number of borings can be taken at a site. Another option, is to use geophysical methods of data collection. These techniques are non-destructive, efficient, cost-effective for large areas, and have been shown to be reliable in past studies. This paper investigated how the addition of geophysical data affects the slope stability analysis for two slopes located in Arkansas. One slope was located in Sand Gap, Arkansas and the second slope was located in Ozark, Arkansas. Slide by Rocscience was used as the stability software and the Simplified Bishop, Simplified Janbu, and Morgenstern-Price were selected as the methods of analysis. The results from this study show that the addition of geophysical data can greatly impact the calculated factor of safety for a slope as well as the failure locations, especially at sites where a very limited number of borings were taken.

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