GENERALIZED STABILITY ANALYSIS OF REINFORCED EMBANKMENTS ON SOFT CLAY

By modifying Janbu's generalized procedure of slices (GPS), the stabil ity of a reinforced embankment constructed on a non-homogeneous clay d eposit of finite depth is analysed to compute the factor of safety. Th e non-circular critical surface corresponding to the minimum factor of safety is obtained by a sequential unconstrained minimization techniq ue in conjunction with a conjugate direction method for a multidimensi onal search and a quadratic interpolation technique for a unidimension al search. The effect of the thickness of the desiccated zone and the variation of undrained shear strength of clay with depth on the factor of safety is considered in the analysis. The influence of the tensile reinforcement force on the location of the critical surface is presen ted. The effects of the tensile reinforcement force and its orientatio n as well as the number of reinforcing layers on the stability of emba nkment have also been studied. The results obtained from the present a nalysis are compared with solutions reported in the literature.