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Research paper of Shanping Project

Open Air Museum
Sophaneth Usphea, Junior Engineer

ABSTRACT:
This study proposed the procedure to analyze the slope and gabion structure in
Shanping Open-Air Museum by using general application and Engineering
application. This paper also provided details understanding and hypothesis
regarding the lateral force and failure application of the slope and gabion
structure as well. The paper begins by providing the application of slope
stabilization which is suited to this Shanping open air museum’s project. It is
started from using geometrical method to using modern techniques such as
grouting or shotcrete to fortify the existing structure and extending to analyses
the modern application of using gabion structure.

INTRODUCTION:
The projects located in Shanping, Taiwan. In Taiwan, various ecological
engineering working methods are introduced into many reconstructing projects in
the disastrous area of the 921 Quake1which was occurred in 1999. This is the
foundation to analyze and consider while designing the slope and gabion basket
to avoid errors in this project. Since we know that, many civil engineering projects
are located on or near the sloping ground, thus they are potentially subject to
many kinds of slope instability such as slides, flows, and falls. Due to the features
of high flexibility, high permeability, and high roughness gabion structure are
considered as an alternative construction to meet the demand of ecological
criteria. Therefore, this study presented a series of analyses and investigations
regarding these two criteria.

APPLICATION OF SLOPE STABLIZATION:

1
The Chi-Chi earthquake and subsequent aftershocks destroyed approximately 8,500 buildings and significantly
damaged another 6,200. Damage was heaviest in the central Taiwan counties of Taichung, Nantou, and Yunlin
[ CITATION His21 \l 1033 ]
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Sometimes, the projects are built close to slopes that are naturally unstable, and
eventually, succumb to damage from failure that would have occurred whether
the construction had taken place or not. More often, carelessly designed, and
constructed projects decrease the stability of nearby slopes and thus induce
instability[ CITATION Don18 \l 1033 ]. For example, the construction of a road in hilly
terrain might include creating a cut slope that undermines fractures or bedding
planes in the rock, and thus induces a slide. As a junior engineer at AUPP, I have
learned and researched the terminology of slope designs for a few projects as
well. Only some methods are introduced in this paper because we need to limit
the application to a basic level since our workers are non-professional, so the
high-end modern techniques such as RCC structure, or anchor installation are not
analyzed in this research.
Geometrical method

Figure 1: Shanping site project (front view)

The change in geometric slope is going to analyze in this section. As you can see
from Figure 1, The picture illustrates the site condition. Since this is an Open-Air
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Museum, there will be live load and dead load needed to consider in this case.
The basis of this method is to change the site condition in our favor. For instance,
we need to decease the void ratio in the soil which reduces amount of water in
the soil, and then we can properly maintain the desirable strength property. We
can solve this solution by compacting the soil2 to make the soil denser before
construction and lower the soil moisture content. Soil compaction is essential for
earthwork construction. After compacting, the height of the ground (h_1) will be
lower than it is right now (shear strength reduced), and that is the sign that the
soil is compacted compared to before. The application applied for slope at h2 as
well. Compacting the soil can increased the shear strength of the soil which
reduces the potential for slope stability problems and enhance the fill’s capacity
for supporting loads and solid foundations as well.
By compacting the soil, we can decrease the compressibility and increase erosion
resistance which reduces the potential for excessive settlement, and this method
does not require professional workers. The equipment can range from simple
compacting tools to big compacting machines. After this method is applied, the
construction can begin.
However, for the blue area (as shown in Figure 1), we need to consider variety
property of material or methods to stabilize this area. For instance, after refilling
this place with compacted soil, reinforced concrete (RCC structure) is
recommended to sustain the load exert above the ground, and nearby structure
as well (ramps, walking space, and gabion basket).
There are also some interesting applications that we could apply in here as well.
Hydrological techniques are one of the most interesting applications by installing
drainpipes to reduce pore water pressure in the soil which decreased hydraulic
conductivity. This method has been using for a long time already.
Shotcrete and Grouting

Shotcrete is a mixture of aggregate and cement and applied to the desired area
by spraying. Shotcrete works as a layer to prevent rock (small block) from failing.
It also works as to provide support against sliding of the slope as well. By applying
shotcrete in construction, it can improve the tensile and shear strength of slopes,

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This concept has been introduced in Geotechnical Engineering Principle and Practice [ CITATION Don18 \l 1033 ]
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thereby greatly reducing the chances of slope failure. For grouting, it is a mixture
between water and cement to fortify the crack area of compacting. This is one of
the simplest and inexpensive yet effective methods for fortifying the slope to a
certain degree. In Figure 2, Shan ping’s open-air museum for slope under the
structure modified using shotcrete and grouting technique to stabilize the slope
further.

Figure 2: Modeling using Shotcrete and Grouting as main materials.

How to check whether the slope is safe or not?

By using limit equilibrium concept, we can calculate the factor of safety of the
slope by this formular:
s shear strength
F= (safety factor = )
τe equilibrium shear stress

The factor of safety can be varying from point to point along the failure surface.
Shear strength and equilibrium shear stress can be obtained from tests of the soil.
If the result is less than 1 (F<1), it means the slope is not safe. Otherwise, if F>1,
the slope is stable.

APPLICATION OF GABION STRUCTURE:

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The application of using gabion is common for erosion protection of channel bed.
At present in Taiwan, the construction of gabion structures was mainly
implemented for revetment and retaining walls. Nevertheless, due to hydrology
conditions and geography, the application of gabion can be failed in stream
regulation as well as erosion control. [ CITATION Der10 \l 1033 ]
This application has been successfully applied in Taiwan for many projects, as
shown below.

Figure 3: Nan-Tou County, Zhu Shan Township,

Figure 4: Tao-Yuan County, Long Tan, Nan-
Gabion Structure for retaining wall and slope
Keng creek, Gabion structure for stream
protection.
regulation

Table 1:Standard Dimension of galvanized wire and gabion unit [ CITATION Der10 \l 1033 ]
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For our case, we need to design a gabion structure for retaining wall as well as
slope protection, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 5: Gabion retaining wall view 1. Figure 6: gabion retaining wall view 2.

We chose a variety design of gabion structure for different purpose under

different circumstances. For example, in Figure 5, the gabion work as a function
for keeping the slope from failure (falls slope3), however, the slope is not too high,
so we need to design appropriate dimensions for this slope only. In Figure 6, the
slope is high, and we need to design a gabion basket which is heavy enough to
sustain and keep the slope stabilize, and that is the reason the gabion basket
needs to have big dimension (height, width, length, thickness of PVC coating,
frame, and wire) as shown in Table 1.

Alternative to concrete material

Based on the original design, the walking area uses concrete as the material.
Concrete subject to compression and tensile force create bending moment along
the length of the concrete. Using concrete as a main material is good for the
durability and flexibility, however, Is that the only design for this section?

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Falls are slope failures consisting of soil or rock fragments that drop rapidly down a slope, bouncing, rolling, and
even becoming airborne along the way. Falls most often occur on steep rock and slopes are usually triggered when
rock fragments are undermined by erosion, split apart by tree roots or ice, pushed out by water pressure, or shaken
by an earthquake.[ CITATION Don18 \l 1033 ]
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Of course not, using plank wood as the material is also good as well because in
the walking area, we do not need the durability of material due to low load and
subject to different pressure at different time frames. However, by using plank
wood can help us maintain the structure more easily because wood is strong in
compression. Plank wood is much easier to replace and required less time to
change compared to concrete.

Figure 7: Plank wood

Conclusion
Based on the research paper above, we can make several conclusions:
1. Slope stabilization can be done with many methods such as geometrical
method, hydrological method, and chemical solution as well.
2. Gabion application has been widely used in many engineering projects due
to its flexibility and high roughness. Design of gabion structure needs to
follow the dimension of Table to achieve stability of design.
3. Alternative design for concrete on walking areas can be achieved by
replacing it with plank wood due to its property, cost, and time efficiency.
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References
Coduto, D. (2018). Geotechnical engineering: principles and practices. Pearson Education.

Der-Guey Lin, Bor-Shun Huang, Shin-Hwei Lin. (2010). Deformation Analysis of gabion structures.

Editors, H. (2021, june 8). 1999 Taiwan earthquake. Retrieved from HISTORY:
https://www.history.com/topics/natural-disasters-and-environment/1999-taiwan-earthquake