Groundwater regime associated with slope stability in Champlain clay deposits

Abstract

Slope stability analyses in terms of effective stresses are most often based on hypothetical conditions of pore pressure. It is generally assumed that the flow occurs parallel to the slope or even that the conditions are hydrostatic. In fact, in situ measurements tend to show that the real situation could significantly deviate from these approximations due to geologic conditions. The influence of various geometric and stratigraphic factors on the groundwater regime and on the stability of slopes was studied with the finite-element method. To illustrate the parametric study, experimental evaluations of the flow patterns are presented at four sites. The stratigraphy and permeability measurements combined with the finite-element method enabled a complete flow net to be drawn and although some hypotheses had to be formulated with regards to the underlying aquifer recharge or permeability anisotropy, reasonable agreement was found between simulated and measured piezometric heads.