ABSTRACT

A paradigm shift is emerging in Russia’s present-day geotechnical engineering in response to the need for wider application of the concept of nonlinearity of soil deformation and strength performance. Recognizing this need will have serious consequences for all the aspects of engineering-geological studies. The article deals with the diversity and the complexity of selecting the optimal failure criterion when assessing slope stability. Descriptions are given of the most commonly used soil strength models and among them classical Mohr-Coulomb model and its modifications.