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"D" Seam Slope Stability Paqe 4 October 19, 1998 <br />Section 7300 sliding surface. Factors of safety are provided for <br />an assumed completely dry slope condition and for a fully saturated <br />• slope condition. The dual analysis was necessary to verify the <br />conservative nature of the assumptions previously described. If <br />the factors of safety for the saturated slope condition were <br />greater than one, the assumed shear strength values would be too <br />high to correctly predict the slope failure that occurred. The <br />fact that the rock mass slid after part of the toe of the slope was <br />removed during road construction demonstrated that the 1976 ground <br />surface factor of safety had to be less than one, which is <br />correctly predicted by the preliminary analysis. <br />The Section 7300 dry slope factors of safety for the 1976 <br />ground surface slide mass segments are all greater than one. with <br />the exceptions of Segment Ib at the crest and Segment VIb near the <br />toe, saturated segment factors of safety are less than one. The <br />overall Section 7300 slope factors of safety for the 1976 ground <br />surface, shown on the last page of Table 1, indicate stability for <br />a dry slide slope (FS = 1.32) and predicts failure of the fully <br />saturated slope (FS = 0.90). The analysis predicts that the <br />Section 7300 slope failed before the slope was fully saturated, <br />i.e. when the uplift pore pressure reduced the frictional resin <br />tance to sliding to less than the calculated downslope thrust. <br />The impact of the planned excavation of part of the slide mass <br />above the Section 7300 sliding surface, indicated by the "cut <br />• surface" curve on Figure 1, is considerable. None of the "cut <br />surface" segment factors of safety drop below one, even when the <br />remaining slide mass is assumed to be saturated. The overall <br />saturated slope factor of safety increases to 1.50 for the "cut <br />surface" slope analyzed from 0.90 for the 1976 ground surface <br />slope. <br />The first page of Table 2 presents the calculated factors of <br />stability for the six individual segments along the estimated <br />Section 7450 sliding surface. Factors of safety are provided for <br />an assumed completely dry slope condition and for a fully saturated <br />slope condition. The dual analysis for Section 7450 further <br />verifies the conservative nature of the assumptions previously <br />described. Not all the factors of safety for the saturated cut <br />slope segment condition are, however, greater than one. The calcu- <br />lated factor of safety for saturated Segment IVa cut slope is 0.87, <br />indicating that failure is a possibility within Segment IVa if the <br />cut slope becomes saturated. However, the high saturated factor of <br />safety of downslope Segment Va (FS = 1.41) should protect the "D" <br />Seam portal area. Failure of Segment IVa slope after excavation to <br />the cut surface should result in the sliding surface rising to the <br />cut surface and possibly overriding the upper part of the Segment <br />Va cut surface. <br /> <br />