Methods of soil slope stability. Constraints of the limit equilibrium methods for natural slopes

ABSTRACT

Limit equilibrium methods are still very useful on the stability study of soil slopes, notwithstanding the relatively recent advances on the analysis of equilibrium and deformations of these geotechnical structures. Nevertheless it is well recognized that some constraints on the application of the limit equilibrium methods exist and in this work the relative importance of some (the most important) of these constraints is analysed. Application of the limit states approach to the safety quantification of material soil slopes is briefly tackled. (AU)