Stability of Steep Slopes in Cemented Sands

Abstract

The analysis of steep slope and cliff stability in variably cemented sands poses a significant practical challenge as routine analyses tend to underestimate the actually observed stability of existing slopes. The presented research evaluates how the degree of cementation controls the evolution of steep sand slopes and shows that the detailed slope geometry is important in determining the characteristics of the failure mode, which in turn, guide the selection of an appropriate stability analysis method. Detailed slope-profile cross sections derived from terrestrial lidar surveying of otherwise inaccessible cemented sand cliffs are used to investigate failure modes in weakly cemented [unconfined compressive strength