Stability of earth slopes. Part II: Three dimensional analysis in closed-form

A closed-form stability analysis of earth slopes performed in 3D is proposed. The sliding surface is assumed spherical and treated as a rigid body allowing the internal state of stress to be ignored. The proposed closed-formed solution (CFS) can be applied to both homogenous and non-homogenous slopes of either simple or complex geometry and can also deal with any kind of additional loading. Although it is recognized that the critical failure surface is often non-spherical, the CFS methodology for spheres described herein provides an objective tool for the evaluation of the assumptions made by other limit equilibrium methods including the role of intercolumn forces