An Empirical Express Method for Clay Slope Stability Assessment Based on Slip Surface Geometry and Factor of Safety Prediction

Abstract

Clay slopes are particularly sensitive to variations in soil strength, groundwater conditions, and slope geometry, making their rapid and reliable assessment essential for geotechnical design, landslide prevention, and infrastructure risk management. This study develops and evaluates an empirical express method for estimating the stability of clay slopes based on the relationship between soil mechanical parameters, slip surface geometry, and the factor of safety. The proposed approach derives empirical dependencies for the radius of the potential circular slip surface and the coordinates of its centre as functions of slope height, cohesion, internal friction angle, and water-related conditions. The method is supported by long-term field observations and geotechnical investigations of clay slopes, including dry and water-affected scenarios. Two representative stability conditions are considered: dry slopes and slopes influenced by an elevated depression curve. The method was evaluated for 45° clay slopes with heights up to 60 m, using eight representative cases: four dry scenarios and four water-affected scenarios. The calculated factors of safety were compared with GEO5 SLOPE results obtained using Bishop’s simplified method. The comparison showed that most analysed cases presented differences below 5% between the proposed express method and the Bishop-based numerical benchmark, with larger deviations occurring only in selected boundary cases. The results demonstrate that the proposed method can provide a rapid preliminary assessment of clay slope stability, supporting early-stage geotechnical diagnosis, risk screening, and decision-making in regions where clayey formations and slope instability are recurrent.