Warta Geologi, Vol. 45, No. 2, April-June 2019, pp. 43 –
47
Stability of slope along steep road in Abha, Asir Region,
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Saiful Islam1,*, Rini Asnida Abdullah1,
Javed Mallick2, Mohd Ahmed2
1 Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia
2 Department of Civil Engineering, King Khalid
University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
*Corresponding author email address:
isaiful2@graduate.utm.my
Abstract:
Slope stability plays a vital role in steep mountainous slopes. The main aim of
this study is to investigate the slope stability of an area located along a
steep road in Abha, Asir Region, Saudi Arabia using numerical simulation
software -FLAC -3D. The area is frequently facing problems of slope failure due
to various factors, including heavy rainfall, faulting planes, shear zones,
weak rocks, narrow road sections with horizontal and vertical curves, and
anthropogenic activities as well. The geotechnical parameters required as input
data is determined from laboratory testing. From the analysis it was observed
that the maximum displacement computed in the slope in the x-direction is
0.0162 m and the specific maximum displacement computed in the slope in the
z-direction is 0.166 m. The analysis of XX stress shows that the tensile stress
occurred along the top of the slope and its value is 45.68 kPa. While analysis
of YY stress shows that the tensile stress occurred along the top of the slope
and its value is 15.43 kPa. Similarly, it can be seen from the figure of ZZ
stress contour that the tensile stress occurred along the top of the slope with
value of 15.75 kPa. It was observed that negligible deformation occurred in the
y-direction. The places at which the value of factor of safety showed less than
one confirms instability.
Keywords:
Slope stability, numerical simulation, factor of safety, failure surface
ISSN
0126–5539; e-ISSN 2682-7549
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.7186/wg452201903
