AN EXAMINATION OF EARTH SLOPE FAILURES IN TEXAS. FINAL REPORT

Slope stability problems encountered by the Texas State Department of Highways and Public Transportation have been identified and examined. Problems have been encountered with cut and natural slopes, embankments foundations, and the embankment slopes themselves. The most frequent problems encountered occur with the embankment side slopes themselves and occur in embankments constructed of soils having liquid limits generally exceeding 50. Slope failures typically occur in such embankments a number of years after construction and involve relatively shallow slides. Effective stress ("drained") shear strength parameters were back-calculated from the observed slides and compared with corresponding laboratory values. The laboratory strengths were significantly higher than the back-calculated values and suggest that conventional laboratory tests and procedures may be inappropriate for use in design.