Efficient analytical approach for stability analysis of infrastructure slopes

Transportation infrastructure is of vital importance to economic prosperity. Transportation infrastructure (e.g. railway, highway) is usually supported by a large number of cuttings and embankments, which require regular maintenance to ensure serviceability and safety. The funding available for maintenance is usually limited. Hence, the key challenge is to identify the infrastructure slopes that require the most urgent attention. This paper presents an analytical framework that can be efficiently used for slope stability analysis at network scales. The analytical approach enables calculation of the factor of safety according to the traditional approach, the over-design factor following Eurocode 7 and the probability of failure considering uncertainty of parameters. Application of the analytical framework is illustrated with examples. The analytical approach can readily be incorporated into a spreadsheet program as user-defined functions, which are particularly useful for the generic slope stability analysis of long linear transportation infrastructure.