EFFECT OF CANAL WATER LEVEL ON STABILITY OF ITS

EMBANKMENT AND SIDE SLOPES

Daljeet Singh1, *, J.N.Jha2, K.S.Gill3

1ResearchScholar, IK Gujral Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar, Punjab, India.

2Principal,
Government of Bihar, Muzaffarabad Institute of Technology, Muzaffarabad Bihar, India.
3Head, Department of Civil Engineering, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.

*Corresponding Author: er.daljit@gmail.com

Abstract
Punjab has highest percentage of area under the canal and river network. The scarcity of land to develop road network has
forced the road construction agencies to move towards the canal and river banks where roads can be constructed
comparatively easily being the provincial government land by saving a lot of land acquisition cost. The performance of a
road built on canal bank is always remain uncertain. The most of the canals and rivers passes through the alluvial planes, to
keep the cross section of canal uniform a constant water level and bed slope is maintained, this necessitating the construction
of fall structures and high side banks. The effect of capillary and water supply level always keep the Phreatic line moving up
and down. The flowing water exerts the pressure on sides of canal banks thus increasing the stability, during drawdown,on
one hand this pressure decreases, the pore water pressure creates rapid drawdown condition This rapid draw down along with
vehicular load in rainy season put whole embankment and pavement structure into a vulnerable situation, as the factor of
safety against slope failure comes well below below to unity. In this study effort has been made to find the effect of these
forces on the stability of canal banks so that some precautionary measures can be adopted during such critical period. In this
study four different conditions are tested. Condition No 1: Dry condition, when there is no rain and canal is also dry, most
likely condition at the time of construction of canal. Condition No 2: Wet Condition at Full Supply Level (FSL), rainy
weather condition when there is a long spell of rains and canal is running at Full Supply Level. Condition No 3: Rainy
weather condition when there is long spell of rains and canal is running at Lowest Water Level (LWL). Condition No 4:
Rainy weather condition when there is long spell of rains and canal is running at Lowest Water Level (LWL) and additional
surcharge of traffic load is considered to create worst service life conditions for road pavement . The embankment material
is tested for its in-situ properties, the Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is conducted to draw the profile of canal embankment
layers and location of phreatic line at various stages of water supply level in dry as well as rainy seasons. SLOPE/W, a
software developed by GEOSLOPE International Canada, is used for slope stability analysis.
Keywords Slope/W, FSL, LWL, Rapid Draw Down, Stability of Slopes, Factor of Stability.

1. Introduction

Punjab government has proposed to construct a road network along the major canals. That could serve as artilleries in
development of the state. It has been observed that failure of roads along irrigation canals is very common. Knowledge of
the strength and stiffness of soil subgrades and its stability is very important for constructing strong and durable roads to
cater the needs of anticipated heavy traffic. As the canal is constructed at constant slope, it may not necessarily coincide with
the topography of the area, it causes the embankment to be much higher or sometimes lower than the Full Supply Level (FSL)
of the canal. In some situations stability of the embankment becomes more critical as compared to the pavement subgrade
since whole of the pavement structure rests on the embankment. In the present case, the road from Ropar to Doraha along
Sirhind Canal is being constructed on BOT bases. During the construction, road has shown the signs of distress and that lead
to further deterioration of riding surface as it opened to heavy traffic, The operation toll plaza could not be started as the
department did not allowed the construction agency to collect the toll till the road is not in acceptable performance level
condition. The total length of the road is 60 Km the area having severe problems is where the road is constructed on higher
embankment. This study is conducted in specific area where a continuous stretch of 4 Km is damaged from Katana Sahib to
Neelon KM 48 to KM 52.
The road designed is based upon IRC 37-2001, with traffic 30 MSA and dual carriageway four lanes road with crust
thickness consisting of Bituminous Concrete 40 mm, Dense Bituminous Macadam 130 mm, Wet mix macadam 250 mm and
Granular Sub Base of 230 mm. consider the safe bearing capacity of the subgrade soil as 7%. To assure the quality of
construction and conformity with design stipulations the following test were conducted. (a) Maximum Dry Density and In-
situ Dry Density of subgrade and embankment upto 1 M depth. Thickness, Grading and density of various pavement layers.
 

Quality of bituminous mix their thickness and density and stability is also tested. In-situ bearing capacity of subgrade was
tested by remolding the samples at field density and testing the soil for un-soaked and soaked CBR. From the test results it
could not be concluded that the causes of distress in pavement are related to poor design or quality of construction. Hence to
explore the deeper problems SPT tests were conducted though the different embankment layers. The profile section was
plotted through SPT bore, the soil samples at regular interval of 1.5 m and at any change in strata were taken for stability
analysis of pavement embankment structure.

2. Review of stability analysis Methods.

The limit equilibrium analysis can be carried out by various methods developed for slope stability analyses. Fellenius (1936)
introduced the first method, referred to as the Ordinary or the Swedish method, for a circular slip surface. Bishop (1955)
advanced the first method introducing a new relationship for the base normal force. The equation for the FOS hence became
nonlinear. At the same time, Janbu (1954) developed a simplified method for noncircular failure surfaces, dividing a
potential sliding mass into several vertical slices. The generalized procedure of slices (GPS) was developed at the same time
as a further development of the simplified method (Janbu 1973). Later, MorgensternPrice (1965), Spencer (1967), Sarma
(1973) and several others made further contributions with different assumptions for the inter-slice forces. A procedure of
General limit equilibrium (GLE) was developed by Chugh (1986) as an extension of the Spencer and MorgensternPrice
methods, satisfying both moment and force equilibrium conditions (Krahn 2004, Abramson et al. 2002).
Rainfall has its complicated effect on stability of slopes Zhang L L (2005), Santoso A M, Phoon K K and Quek S T (2011)
studied the Effects of soil spatial variability on rainfall-induced landslides.Failures of the slopes along the roads create
hazardous conditions for vehicles. Using the dimensions of the road and the wheel loads of the vehicle, a FS can be assigned
to the road E. Alex Baylot et.al (2012). The characterization and assessment of the effect of uncertainties on the slope stability
evaluation are important in the analysis and design of slope C H Juang (2015)
Software used for stability analysis: Slope stability analyses today can be performed by using various computer based
geotechnical software. Software utilizing LE formulations has been used for many years. Similarly, finite element (FE)
software, based on constitutive laws and appropriate soil models, has drawn growing interest both of researchers and of
professionals. Today, both limit equilibrium (LE) and finite element (FE) based software are commonly used in geotechnical
computations for stability of slopes. Working principle and methods of analysis of the software that is used in this study is
briefly described. SLOPE/W, a software developed by GEO-SLOPE (2012), is used for slope stability analysis. This software
is based on the theories and principles of the Limit equilibrium method. The software SLOPE/W computes FOS for various
shear surfaces, for example circular, non circular and user defined surfaces. However, only the circular SS is
automatically searched. The software has the capability to analyse the problem with the following analysis method.
Morgenstern-Price Method
The Morgenstern-Price method satisfies both force and moment equilibrium and uses a selected interslice force function.
SLOPE/W uses a search method (selectable on the Advanced tab) to find the lambda value that results in the same factor of
safety for both moment and force equilibrium. In the cases when no common factor of safety can be found, the solution is
considered as unconverged.
Spencer Method
The Spencer method satisfies both force and moment equilibrium and is restricted to a constant interslice force function.
SLOPE/W uses a search method (selectable on the Advanced tab) to find the lambda value that results in the same factor of
safety for both moment and force equilibrium. In the cases when no common factor of safety can be found, the solution is
considered as unconverged.
Corps of Engineers #1 Method
The Corps of Engineers #1 method satisfies only force equilibrium. The special interslice force function is computed by
SLOPE/W. The direction of the interslice force for each slice is set equal to the average surface slope. Lambda is always
equal to 1.0.
Corps of Engineers #2 Method
The Corps of Engineers #2 method satisfies only force equilibrium. The special interslice force function is computed by
SLOPE/W. The direction of the interslice force for each slice is set equal to the ground surface slope at the top of each slice.
Lambda is always equal to 1.0.
Lowe-Karafiath Method
The Lowe-Karafiath method satisfies only force equilibrium. The special interslice force function is computed by
SLOPE/W. The direction of the interslice force is set equal to the average of the ground surface slope at the top of the slice
and the slip surface slope at the bottom of the slice. Lambda is always equal to 1.0.
Janbu Generalized Method
The Janbu Generalized method satisfies only force equilibrium. The method imposes a stress distribution on the potential
sliding mass by defining a line of thrust. The direction of the interslice force is assumed to act along the line of thrust which
is set at the lower 1/3 point along the sides of the slices. Lambda is always equal to 1.0.
 

Bishop Method
The Bishop method considers normal forces but not shear forces between the slices. The Bishop method satisfies only
moment equilibrium.
Janbu Method
The Janbu method considers normal forces but not shear forces between the slices. The Janbu method satisfies only force
equilibrium. The Janbu factor of safety does not include Janbu's empirical correction factor, fo. The correction factor must
be manually applied.
Ordinary Method
The Ordinary method sets both the normal and shear interslice forces to zero. The Ordinary method satisfies only moment
equilibrium.

3. Materials and Methods

The topographic survey is carried out to plot the cross section of canal along with its embankments, protection and spoil
banks ditch drain etc. to input the realistic cross section in the software. SPT test is conducted to take the sample from deep
layers for testing of them for in-situ properties. The properties of various embankment layers in given in the Table-1 Pavement
and Embankment Material Properties.

Table-1. Pavement and Embankment Material Properties

Material Model Unit Cohision Phi

Weight
kN/m kPa
Road Crust Material Mohar- coulomb 22 0 40
Compacted Sub Grade Mohar- coulomb 17.5 5 30
Embankment Layers normally compacted Mohar- coulomb 20.4 50 20

Natural Embankment Mohar- coulomb 21.1 45 20

Saturated Sand Mohar- coulomb 18 0 25

Service Life Conditions considered

Condition No 1: Dry condition, when there is no rain and canal is also dry, most likely condition at the time of construction
of canal. Condition No 2: Wet Condition at Full Supply Level (FSL), rainy weather condition when there is a long spell of
rains and canal is running at Full Supply Level. Condition No 3: Rainy weather condition when there is long spell of rains
and canal is running at Lowest Water Level (LWL). Condition No 4: Rainy weather condition when there is long spell of
rains and canal is running at Lowest Water Level (LWL) and additional surcharge of traffic load is considered to create worst
service life conditions for road pavement.
Load Considered: For conditions No.1 to 3, The analysis for stability is carried with mass load of earthen embankment
and road crust only. For the 4th condition the stability is checked with assumed traffic load of four lane dual carriageway as
per actual traffic noticed during investigation period.

4. Results and Discussion

The results of analysis for stability are carried out and factor of safety are presented in tabulated form in Table-2 for all the
four anticipated conditions with all major acceptable methods prevailing in the field of stability of slopes. From the Table-2,
it is concluded that stability of embankment during Condition No 1 and 2, that is either the canal is dry for long period or
running at full supply level for long period the stability is not risk being factor of safety of unity or above from most of the
analysis methods. This seems to be reasonable as water pressure make over the loss of stability due to reduced cohesion with
increased moisture content in embankment. For the conditions 3, that represent the rapid draw down condition due to breach
in canal during rainy season when whole earth mass around is in saturated condition and ponding of water in ditch drains
raises the phreatic line, factor of safety for this condition is very near to unity. Condition 4 can be considered as critical
when traffic load is added to the condition No 3, the factor of safety come well below to unity, in such situation pavement
show the sign of distress, softening of subgrade, slippage and upheaval ultimately leads to cascading failure.

Table-2. Factor of Safety of Canal Embankment Slopes for Different Conditions and Methods
 

Factor of Safety
Analysis Method Condition Condition Condition Condition
No1 No 2 No 3 No 4

Morgenstern-Price Method 1.47 1.18 0.88 0.81

Spencer Method 1.4 1.37 0.97 0.83
Corps of Engineers #1 Method 1.62 1.33 1.07 0.73
Corps of Engineers #2 Method 1.53 1.29 0.96 0.92
Lowe-Karafiath Method 0.93 1 1.16 0.82
Janbu Generalized Method 0.99 1.01 0.97 0.89
Bishop Method 1.46 1.35 1.01 0.86
Janbu Method 1.5 1.37 0.99 0.85
Ordinary Method 1.1 1.45 1.09 0.67

Possible Failure Plane from software output:

Condition No 1: Dry weather conditions when there is no rain and canal is running at Full Supply Level (FSL) for long
time. FOS for this case using Morgenstern-Price Method is 1.47, the software output is shown in Figure1. The possible
failure is on the canal side lane of the embankment.

Figure-1 Showing the software output for condition 1.

Condition No 2: Rainy weather conditions when there is long spell of rains and canal is running at Full Supply Level
(FSL). FOS for this case using Morgenstern-Price Method is 1.18. The software output is shown in Figure-2, shows that
possible failure plan in this case is also towards the canal side lane of the carriageway.
Condition No 3: Canal running at lowest water level after long spell of rains and breach in canal spoil bank other side of
service lane reduces the factor safety very near to unity ( from 0.90 to 1.10) in most of the cases, thus, this is the limiting
condition of stability. If embankment is open to heavy traffic the situation becomes more unfavorable for pavement.
Results of Condition No 4 during Rainy season conditions when there is long spell of rains all of sudden breach in spoil
bank (other side service road side) full flowing canal comes to Lowest Water Level (LWL) rapidly. This sudden draw down
with traffic load surcharge make the most vulnerable situation with factor of safety 0.70 to 0.90 much below the unity value.
Figure-3 shows the failure pattern of the pavement structure (Corps of Engineers #2 Method with factor of safety 0.82). From
 

Figure-2 Showing the software output for condition 2

Figure-3 Showing the software output for condition 4

The output diagram it is clear that in this situation the both the out lanes canal side and ditch drain side are in vulnerable
situation. The embankment in this situation in not able to take the heavy traffic load.

5. Field Verification of Results

ThefailureplanoftheroadshowninFigure4andFigure5matcheswithsoftwareoutputforconditionNo4shown
inFigure3.
 

Figure4:Photographshowingthephysicalconditionofthecanalsidelaneofroad.

Figure5:Photographshowingthephysicalconditionoftheditchdrainsidelaneofroad.

6. Conclusion
From the present study, the followings conclusions are drawn:
1. Stability of canal side slopes plays an important role in the performance of pavement constructed over its embankment.
2. A factor of safety more than 1.5 for most unfavorable anticipated condition is required for desirable performance of
 

Major District or higher category of road.

3. For the road constructed over canal embankment with small factor of safety maximum vehicle load restriction can be
imposed during rainy season to avoid deterioration of pavement structure.
4. Level of phreatic line can be kept low by providing lining over side slope. The bed slope of ditch drain should be
steep so that percolation of water into the embankment is reduced.

Acknowledgements
Authors are very thankful for the cooperationEngineers of Public Works department Punjab, Field Engineers of Execution
Agencies for their cooperation and sharing valuable information.

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