Abstract:
Many road networks were built by cutting slopes. Roads which pass on the hilly and
mountainous terrains of Ethiopia experienced excavations performed by blasting during
construction stage due to variable topographical, geological, and hydrological conditions.
Such conditions with the influence of factors such as heavy rainfall, causes the instabilities
of slopes. Any kind of slope failure can lead to disruption of traffic, losses of property and
lives, injuries, as well as environmental degradation. The rural road linking Arib Gebeya
to Mekdela Amba, which crosses Beshello River, is a rural road that suffers cut slope
failure in Amhara Regional State of Ethiopia. The present study mainly deals with the
analysis of the stability of this road at a critical location of (11035030”N and 38028041”E),
which is near to a village, Diyo, 16.5 km far from Arib Gebeya. The road cut slope suffered
from frequent failures every year. Field reconnaissance study and laboratory experiments
were carried out to determine the geometry and properties of the geo-material of the slope.
The input parameters of the soil, which are used in this analysis, have been obtained from
laboratory tests, whereas, the parameters of rock and rock-soil wastes were adopted from
cited rock properties standard. Two dimensional plain strain numerical technique based
on the finite difference based, software FLAC, was used to analyze the failed slope. Sensitivity
analysis of model for boundary selection and its verification analysis were done.
Three different conditions were modeled depending on the experience of the failure of the
road to discover the effect of excavation on stability of natural slope, and the efficiency of
gabion retaining wall built. Additionally, road widening and removing of wastes have been
analyzed as a fourth model to be taken as a sustainable mitigation measure for the failed
slope. The results showed that the slope has faced shearing problems after the road has
been constructed. The mitigation measure taken, gabion wall, is insignificant to secure
the problem. The recommended remedies gave a good direction on mitigating the failures.