ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that the presence of a sand layer between two clay layers may cause the building up of pore water overpressures, decreasing the effective stresses, eventually resulting in the collapse of a slope. Insufficient safety of the global stability of a slope can cause a landslide that occurs along a slip surface, or a slow displacement of the entire slope. Landslides can also be triggered by the seepage of ground water out of the slope, causing local erosion and caving. The shear strength characteristics of the involved soil layers play an even more important role. The presence of a sand layer between two clay layers causes the building up of pore water overpressures, decreasing the effective stresses, eventually resulting in the uplift and/or collapse of the slope. The advantage of using finite elements is that the real behavior of the soil is better simulated and that the real stresses occurring in the soil are taken into account.
