Shear strength parameters from back-analysis of single slips

Shear strength properties obtained from back-analysis of field situations ought in principle to be more reliable than those obtained from laboratory tests, and hence any methods that assist the process of back-analysis are to be welcomed. The purpose of this paper is to present some simple concepts that provide a means of extracting shear strength parameters from back-analysis of slopes in which single slips have occurred. Yamagami&Ueta (1996) have presented a useful method for doing this, and this paper offers some alternatives that appear somewhat simpler.

Figure 1 shows a slope in which a single slip has occurred at the...