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Resistance Demand against Lateral Spreading at the Embankment Base
Demande de Résistance Contre L’épandage Latéral à la Base de Remblai

Cihan Öser, S. Feyza Cinicioglu

Civil Engineering Department, Istanbul University, Turkey, [email protected]

ABSTRACT: A design method for embankments with basal reinforcement has been proposed in this paper. Based on lower bound
plasticity theory, equilibrium conditions were satisfied for the stress fields representing variation of stress states within and beneath
the embankment. Critical embankment height and the depth of the critical sliding surface are found with an approach specifically
developed for embankments, to satisfy both the stability and bearing capacity considerations simultaneously. Once the critical height
is found, lateral thrust generated by the embankment loads at the base of the embankment on the embankment side can be calculated
by using a stress variation field with the embankment material parameters. A specific merit of the method is providing the capability
to calculate lateral thrust action at all the regions separated by the chosen fan of discontinuities. The lateral resistance developed at the
base of the embankment, but within the underlying soil is calculated by utilizing the same stress field but inserting the material
properties of the underlying soil and stress availabilities at the considered base level. Once the mobilized resistance on the foundation
soils side is found, comparing this value by the lateral thrust on the embankment side, the adequacy of the resistance from the
foundation soils is evaluated and the required additional resistance to be provided by the reinforcement is directly found.

RÉSUMÉ : Une méthode de conception pour les remblais avec renforcement de base a été proposée dans ce papier. Basée sur la théorie
de la plasticité minimale, les conditions d'équilibre ont été satisfaites pour les champs de tension représentant la variation des états de
tension à l'intérieur et en dessous du remblai. La hauteur critique de remblai et la profondeur de la surface de glissement critique sont
trouvées avec une approche spécifiquement développée pour les remblais, pour satisfaire à la fois les considérations de stabilité et de
capacité de charge simultanément. Une fois la hauteur critique a été établit, la poussée latérale générée par le poids de remblais à la base
du remblai et sur la côté du remblai ; peut être calculée en utilisant variation de la tension du champ avec les paramètres de matériau de
remblai. La valeur particulière du procédé consiste à fournir la capacité pour calculer l’effet de la poussée latérale à toutes les régions
séparées par le ventilateur choisi des discontinuités. La résistance latérale développée à la base du remblai, mais dans le sol sous-jacent
est calculée en utilisant le même champ de tension mais en insérant les propriétés matérielles du sol sous-jacent avec la disponibilité de
stress au niveau de base considéré. Une fois la résistance mobilisée sur le côté des sols de fondation est établi, en comparant cette valeur
par la poussé latérale du côté remblai, l’adéquation de la résistance des sols de fondation est évaluée et la résistance additionnelle
demandée est fournie directement par le renfort.
KEYWORDS: lower bound plasticity, embankments, limit equilibrium, basal reinforcement, required geotextile strength, soft soils
1 INTRODUCTION embankment. Failure surfaces may also penetrate into the
subsoil and cause deeper failures. Therefore, to provide
Embankments are usually constructed as parts of transportation sufficient resistance against lateral spreading is among the
networks. Especially when soft soils are encountered as primary design criteria. If design checks indicate insufficient
foundation soils, design and construction of an embankment is a strength against lateral spreading, it is a common practice to
difficult work. Consideration of the combined behavior of the place high stiffness geosynthetic reinforcement at the base of
embankment and its subsoil is essential to apply a design embankments.
process which takes care of both the shallow and deep failure The approach presented in this study starts by finding the
risks. This necessity was throughly evaluated in Oser and most critical deep failure level within the subsoil and the
Cinicioglu (2016), and a new design procedure that is capable geometry of the embankment by applying the method by Oser
of modeling the combined behavior of embankment and its and Cinicioglu (2016). The method can be applied to find the
foundation soils was developed. The design method proposed in possible heights either when single stage of loading is applied
Oser and Cinicioglu (2016) mainly focuses on possible deep to find the maximum height under short term conditions or the
failures that emerge from the weak foundation soils. One of the height that can be approached by leaving consolidation periods
crucial factors that has a crucial role on the embankment among the loading stages to make use of the shear strength gain
stability is the lateral spreading effect at the base of the during consolidation periods. Especially, in the case of stage
embankment. In the paper, the availability of sufficient tensile loading, the base shear resistance is not often enough to resist
strength within the embankment material was assumed to divert the outward stresses created by the greater embankment heights.
the focus of the method to deep failures. Now, this study At this stage, control of the lateral safety against spreading
proposes a new method that is mounted on the approach comes into action.
presented in Oser and Cinicioglu (2016) and is capable of The outward stresses at the base of the embankment, on the
controlling both the deep and shallow failures. This is achieved embankment side, is determined by applying a lower bound
by adding a control mechanism that evaluates the possibility of plasticity approach. A stress fan is created that comparts the
lateral spreading at the base of the embankment. It is known base to evaluate the outward stresses caused by lateral
that lateral spreading action is created within the embankment spreading action within the embankment. Shear resistance
material and can be resisted by the action of the base shear developed on the subsoil side is evaluated by using the same
mobilized on the subsoil side. In case of insufficient frictional stress fan with the subsoil material properties. The adequacy of
resistance at the base on the subsoil side, lateral spreading the lateral resistance against sliding is tested by comparing total
occurs and may cause rotational failures within the

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 Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Seoul 2017

values of these actions which act in opposite directions. A ∑W  ∑VRESISTANCE (Vertical eq.) (2)
desired value of safety factor against lateral sliding is then
introduced into this comparison in order to calculate the Sliding and resisting forces defined in Eqs. (1)-(2) can be given
required amount of additional tensile strength that will be as in Eqs. (3)-(5).
provided by the basal reinforcement. The last step is to re-
calculate the degree of the stabilizing effect of the tensile ∑FSLIDING = PA(EMB) + PA(SOIL) (3)
reinforcement on the overall stability.
∑FRESISTANCE = PP(SOIL) + ∑HRESISTANCE (4)
2 CONSIDERATION OF OVERALL STABILITY OF THE ∑W = W(EMB) + W(SOIL) (5)
EMBANKMENT AND SOFT SUBSOILS
In the method by Oser and Cinicioglu (2016), combined where ∑Vresistance and ∑Hresistance represent total vertical and
behavior of the embankment and subsoils are evaluated by horizontal resisting forces that were calculated by the
applying a limit equilibrium approach specifically developed application of lower bound plasticity theorem on the stress
for the design of embankments on soft soils. The failure zones created between the passive and active zones as shown in
mechanism of the method is a multi-rigid-block mechanism and Fig.1. These resisting forces are calculated as expressed in eqs.
the stresses in the system are calculated by using the principles (6)-(7) based on normal and shear stresses on the slip surfaces
of the lower bound plasticity theorem. The method considers found by considering the stress axis rotation starting from the
only the deep failure case, on the assumption that the inside active side towards the passive side to find the stresses on the
stability of the embankment will be ensured during construction embankment side and in the opposite direction that is from the
either by careful compaction or adding tensile inclusions. passive side towards active side on the subsoils side.
Milligan and Busbridge (1983) and Han (2015) indicated that,
the failure of embankments on soft soils can be controlled by
circular or noncircular slip surfaces depending on the thickness ∑ = ∑ =2  () ∙ −1 (6)
of the soft soil layer. Based on this indication, the failure
mechanism of the propsed method is mounted on a horizontal
slip surface within the soft foundation soils. The critical sliding ∑ = ∑ =2  () ∙ −1 (7)
surface and corresponding ultimate height are found by
scanning horizontally through the soft soils and applying the
stability analyses of the method. Once, the stress states Critical embankment height that satisfies all the forces and
mobilized at the base of the embankment are found by using the moment equilibrium conditions (PA(emb.), PA(soil) and W(emb.))
stress fan given in Fig. 1 and applying the approaches of lower in Fig.2 is determined as limit embankment height
bound plasticity theory, the designer is then able to control (HL(EMBANKMENT)). If the desired embankment height is greater
horizontal, vertical and moment equilibrium conditions. Fig.2 that that could be provided at one stage stage loading technique
schematizes the considered block mechanism together with the is used. In case of stage loading, the above procedure is used
forces and stresses acting on the system. repeatedly between the consolidation stages to find the
incremental heights that could be applied under undrained
conditions during construction stages and strength gain during
consolidation stages are found by constructing stress paths to
follow the stress variation all through the construction and
consolidation stages. The method is explained thoroughly in
Oser and Cinicioglu (2016).

3 SAFETY AGAINST LATERAL SPREADING

Apart from satisfying the overall stability as explained in
section 2, the provision of sufficient safety against lateral
Figure 1. Stress fan and stress-axis rotation beneath the embankment spreading at the base level of the embankment is among the
(Oser and Cinicioglu, 2016). crucial concerns in embankment design on soft soils. As
mentioned in Chai and Zhu (2002), tendency of lateral
spreading increases the shear stresses acting outwardly at the
ground level, decreases the bearing capacity and increases the
lateral displacements in the soft soil.
The method proposed in this paper is based on a
comparison of the outward stresses calculated at the base using
the embankment material properties against the shearing
resistance mobilized in the foundation soil. The variation of
these stresses and the stress rotation effect along the base is
accounted for by using the partitioning of the stress fan applied.
Figure 2. Forces in constituted blocks of the mechanism in the
The mechanism of the method is different from the applications
developed limit state method (Oser and Cinicioglu, 2016). that calculate outward stresses only as a result of the lateral
active earth thrust mobilized within the embankment as if there
is a hypothetical retaining wall along the shoulder of the
In order to satisfy the equilibrium of the overall block embankment. The method proposed in this paper calculates the
system, the conditions given by Eqs. (1)-(2) should be met. outward stresses as a component of the collapse mechanism
mobilized at the surface and resulted from the combined
∑FSLIDING  ∑FRESISTANCE (Horizonral eq.) (1) behavior of the embankment and foundation soils as
schematized in Fig. 3.

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 Technical Committee 210 / Comité technique 210

As a result of the comparison of outward stresses against

resisting shear stresses a certain value of safety factor which
can take care of both lateral spreading and horizontal force
equilibrium conditions (evaluated by considering the overall
stability) should be provided. The resistance against lateral
spreading should also be sufficient against the lateral thrust
Figure 3. Settlement of soft subsoil under embankment loads (Holtz et created by the height achieved by undrained loading and also
al. 1998) the greater heights that will be achieved by the application of
In accordance with the settling action of the embankment stage loading technique. If the available resistance forces are
material by sagging into deformed clayey subsoil, the outward not adequate the required amount of additional strength is found
stresses can be calculated at any horizontal level as a result of by eq. (11).
the action of the active wedge constituted within the
∑ +
embankment material as seen in Fig. 4. The stress state at the = (11)
base level along the symmetrical line corresponds to principal
stresses on the vertical and horizontal axis but stress axis
rotation occurs towards the embankment toes. As a result of this The additional strength provided by the geotextile
action, outward shear stresses are created and can be calculated reinforcement at the base level also helps to improve the overall
by using the approach given in Oser and Cinicioglu (2016). In horizontal stability condition the components of which are
the application of this approach a stress fan is created and the shown in Fig.5. Eq. (12) gives the additional horizontal
stress state at the centerline of the active wedge in the middle of resisting force effect and the factor of safety for the overall
the embankment is transferred towards the toes by applying the stability condition can be calculated by Eq. (13).
principles of the lower bound plasticity theory.
The resisting shear stresses are created by the action of the
passive wedge outside the embankment toes. Using the same
approach, resisting shear stresses are calculated starting from
the passive stress state mobilized within the subsoil. The stress
values are found by using subsoil material properties and the
depth from the surface. As seen in Fig. 3, as the weak subsoil is
loaded, some settlement inevitably occurs and the embankment
penetrates into the weak subsoil to some extent, therefore
passive resistance is created at the level of penetration. This
depth level can be taken as the level of passive resistance that
will be developed and then these stress states are transferred
towards the active side to find the resisting shear stresses. In Figure 5. Reinforcement at the base level of embankment against lateral
some cases, some surface stripping can be made purposely to spreading effect
carry the base level inside the subsoil. Based on these
considerations the base level is chosen.
.( ) = . + . − (12)

( ) +∑ + ( .)
. = (13)
( )+ ( .)

4 APPLICATION OF THE METHOD

A sample calculation by following the procedure in the context
of the newly developed method proposed in this paper is made
Figure 4. Fan of discontinuities for sliding forces and resisting forces to test the applicability of the method. A typical soil profile
due at a depth near to surface level consisting soft clay layers and the related parameters used for
this purpose are given in Table 1. Ground water level is taken as
1.0 meter below the ground surface.
The lateral outward stresses and resisting shear stresses are
calculated by Eqs. (8)-(9).
Table 1. Geometrical cross section and subsoil material properties of
embankment
∑ =∑ () ∙ (8) Depth sat 'v ' cu
Soil
(m) (kN/m3) (kN/m2) () (kN/m2)
Embankment - 21.0 - 25.0 -
Clay crust 0–1 17.0 8.5 22.0 -
∑ = ∑ =1
−1
() ∙ (9) Over cons. clay 1–2 16.2 20.1 29.9 11.3
Very soft clay1 2–4 14.2 27.4 26.0 10.0
Very soft clay2 4–6 15.2 36.8 26.0 11.6
Factor of safety against lateral spreading is found by Soft clay 6–9 15.3 50.0 26.0 15.6
proportioning (∑Fresistance) to (∑Fspreading) as shown in eq. (10).

∑
= (10) 4.1 Limit heights of embankment under drained and undrained
∑ loading conditions
Limiting lower bound embankment heights and corresponding
critical depths of failure surfaces are found using the properties

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 Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Seoul 2017

given in Table 1, both for undrained and drained cases, for the 4.3 Effect of reinforcement on the stability of embankment-
first step of calculations using the method by Oser and subsoil system
Cinicioglu (2016). The results are tabulated in Tables 2.
As seen in Table 2, under undrained conditions, the height As the last step of the design procedure, the stabilizing effect of
of embankment that can be built is 3.0 metres with a factor of the reinforcement on the overall stability is tested. The forces
safety of unity. If stage loading is applied it is possible to acting at the base of the 3 meters high embankment with basal
increase this height to 7.2 meters for drained conditions. These reinforcement are; Fresistance = 92.5 kN, Fspreading = 96.0 kN,
values are found by satisfying all the equilibrium conditions of Freinforcement = 230 kN which give a safety factor of
vertical, horizontal and moment equilibrium, however, lateral FSlateral spreading = 3.36, against lateral spreading.
spreading risk at the base of the embankment has not been The effect of the additional strength provided by the
included into this scheme of calculations. reinforcement on the overall horizontal stability of the 3.0
meters high embankment for which the sliding surface lies at
Table 2. Limit embankment heights for various slip surface depths 5.0 meters depth is found by comparing the available horizontal
under undrained/drained loading conditions forces. These are calculated as; PA(emb.) = 3.4 kN, PA(soil) =
Slip Surface Embankment Height (m). (undrained / drained) 387.8 kN, PP(soil) = 293.6 kN and ∑Hresistance = 132.4 kN.
Depth Horizontal Equilibrium Vertical Equilibrium As a result, the safety factor found for horizontal overall
3 3.15 / 9.55 4.30 / 7.20** stability increases to 1.45 compared to the value of 1.0 which
4 3.10 / 10.45 6.70 / 9.60 controlled the overall stability and thus defined the critical
5 3.00* / 11.50 9.35 / 12.80 height for the undrained case without basal reinforcement.
6 3.25 / 12.55 14.30 / 16.65
7 3.25 / 13.65 19.45 / 21.40
* limit embankment height for undrained loading 5 CONCLUSION
** limit embankment height for drained loading
In this paper, a new design method for embankments with basal
reinforcement is proposed. The basic property of the proposed
4.2 Safety of embankment against lateral spreading method is to control the degree of adequacy of the lateral
resistance against outward spreading at the base and calculate
In this section, following the procedure proposed in this paper the necessary additional tensile strength to be provided to
and using the greater height found for drained conditions the develop a desired safety level against lateral spreading action.
risk of lateral spreading is tested and calculations to provide the Moreover, this newly introduced method is attached with the
necessary amount of additional strength is carried out. recently proposed mehod by Oser and Cinicioglu (2016).
In order to carry out the necessary calculations by using the By this attachment, the method gained the capacity to carry
principles of lower bound plasticity theory, the failure surface is out the complete set of calculations that control all conditions of
chosen as a horizontal surface near the base level of the the overall stability consideration for the combined
embankment (50cm in the presented calculation). Related embankment - foundation soils system together with a special
calculations are done on the embankment side using the focus on the lateral spreading control.
embankment material properties to find the variation of outward The method is basically a limit equilibrium method
lateral stresses along the base level and on the subsoil side using developed by applying the principles of lower bound plasticity
subsoil material properties to find the variation of resisting theory. The procedure of the method is rational and simple as
shear stresses. Drained properties were chosen for the can be seen in the simple set of calculations provided in the
embankment material as it is granular and for the dry crust layer paper to test the applicability.
as it lies above the ground water level. In addition to these, as
long term behavior corresponds to the maximum possible
height drained properties were also chosen for the soil layers 6 REFERENCES
below the ground water level. Summing up the values of
Chai, J.C. and Zhu H.H. 2002. Behavior of Reinforced Embankment
outward and resisting stresses at the base of the 7.2 meters high over Soft Subsoil. Proc. Of Inter. Seminar on Practice and Adv. in
embankment the forces acting at the base are found as, Fspreading Geotechnical Eng., Shanghai, China, 71-83
= 214.6 kN and Fresistance = 92.5 kN. These values give a safety Han, J. 2015. Principles and practice of ground improvement, John
factor of 0.43 against lateral spreading, which indicates that, Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ.
failure will inevitably occur by the initiation of a separation Holtz, R.D., Christopher B.R. and Berg, R.R. 1998. Geosynthetic
effect emerging from the base level towards both to the Design and Construction Guidelines. Federal Highway
embankment side and to the foundation soils. Administration, Publication No: FHWA HI-95-038
In order to guarantee the safety against lateral spreading Milligan, V. and Busbridge, J.R. 1983. Guidelines for the use of tensar
additional tensile strength should be provided by using a tesile in reinforcement of fills over weak foundations. Golder Associates
reinforcement. The required amount of additional strength is Report to the Tensar Corp., Golder Associates, Mississauga,
found by adopting a desired safety factor which was chosen as Ontario, Canada.
1.5 for the sample case given here which gave the necessary Oser, C. and Cinicioglu. S.F. 2016. Embankment Design Method
Combining Limit-State Approach with Stress-Path Application.
amount of additional strength as 230 kN as given in the
International Journal of Geomechanics. Online published on
calculations below. September 13, 2016. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE) GM.1943-
5622.0000796
92.5 +
1.5 =
214.6

= 230

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