STABILITY ANALYSIS OF A HILL SLOPE IN UZAN BAZAAR GUWAHATI USING FEM AND LEM APPROACH

Abstract

The stability analysis of natural slopes holds significant importance in geotechnical design. Both engineering consultancies and research organizations utilize various computer aided design software to address these slope stability problems. This approach provides the ability to precisely anticipate critical failure surfaces through diverse methodologies. This M.Tech thesis focuses on performing stability analysis of a natural slope located in Uzan Bazaar Guwahati Assam. There have been frequent and periodical occurrences of natural disasters in the State of Assam, viz. landslides, earthquake tremors, which not only caused lot of causalities and destruction of property, but also damage roads and infrastructures. The natural slope lies on left bank of mighty Brahmaputra River. Most of the Kharghulli Hill is covered with dense vegetation and soil cover including semi-consolidated to consolidated nature of slide cum slope debris material which consist of nala borne material second layer from top including highly to completely weathered, weak, jointed and fractured Gneisses/Schist is prone to slope failures. The Finite Element Method (FEM) based on the Shear Strength Reduction (SSR) technique offers several advantages. It enables the prediction of support elements' failure. The support elements such as micro-piles, ground anchors, geogrids, etc, as well as the calculation of factors of safety. This capability enables comprehensive analysis and assessment of the support elements, contributing to a more accurate understanding of their performance and potential failure modes. Despite these benefits, SSR has not been widely adopted for routine slope stability analysis, likely due to limited experience with the tool and the scarcity of published information regarding its accuracy. To tackle this issue, the objective of this thesis is to conduct its performance comparison with the widely employed conventional limit-equilibrium method. The findings indicate a favourable correlation between both these methods of analysis, establishing a strong level of agreement between the two approaches.