Numerical analysis of slopes treated by nano-materials

Improvements in mechanical characteristics of soils treated by nano-materials (NMs) have been proved in the last three decades. The improvements are mainly attributed to changes in the soil fabric where a noticeable rise in shear strength has been obtained. This work, therefore, addressed a numerical study on the influence of the soil fabric changes due to the NMs enhancement on a slope stability problem using an upper bound discretization scheme. A parametric study was carried out at seven different inclination angles from 15 to 45 degrees and with a variety of combinations of angle of shearing resistance (Phi) and cohesion (c) values. This was carried out for two different types of slopes on purely frictional materials and c-Phi materials. A noticeable increase in stability was obtained, based on a set of re-generated design charts, due to NMs enhancement (attributed to soil fabric changes). The re-generated design charts did not require iterative procedures and extended both x and y boundaries when compared with other available charts in the literature. Examination of the influence of the NM on the failure modes, to provide an insight into different failure mechanisms due to the soil fabric changes, was also considered.