Slope stability assessment in sensitive clay with an advanced constitutive model

Paper in proceeding, 2023

The initial and strain-induced anisotropic structure, as well as the strain-softening behaviour, of sensitive clay has been long recognized. These soil features, and their subsequent effect on the mobilized strength, are however rarely directly considered in the evaluation of slope stability. This numerical study investigates the influence of 1) Initial anisotropy; 2) Evolving anisotropy and 3) Degradation of the inter-particle bonds (destructuration) due to irrecoverable creep strains on the stability and failure mechanisms of a slope in sensitive clay. The rate-dependent Creep-SCLAY1S model includes these features, and its hierarchical formulation, is exploited to illustrate the effect of these features for a typical slope in the Göta River valley, West Sweden.