Soil Reinforcement Using Vegetation For Steep And Mild Slope

Abstract

Vegetation providesimportant soil reinforcement, which increases the stability of slope by
providing additional shear reinforcement to the slope.In this paper soil is reinforced by three
major types of root structure morphology; heart root system, tap root system, plate root
system and for analysis purpose they are converted into equivalent geometrical
patterns.Slopes are modelled on the basis of soil coverage. They all are analyzed using
PLAXIS finite element software. By using strength reduction method in PLAXIS, factor of
safety (FOS) is computed for different morphology and it is compared with each other.They
are also compared on the basis of slope angle(α). Soil reinforcement by roots ismodelledby
using two parameters such as addition cohesion and root system morphology which are
different for different root system morphologies.