Estimating critical height of unsupported trenches in vadose zone

Workers are often required to enter unsupported trenches during the construction process, which may present serious risks. Trench failures can result in death or damage to adjacent properties; therefore, trenches should be excavated with extreme precaution. Critical height (i.e., maximum depth that can be excavated without failure) is the most important design consideration for ensuring the stability of unsupported trenches. Because excavation work is often done in the vadose zone, the influence of matric suction should be taken into account when estimating the critical height of an unsupported trench. In this study, an attempt was made to estimate the critical heights of unsupported trenches using three distinct approaches: (i) analytical method based on the extended Rankine earth pressure theory, (ii) finite element coupled stress – pore-water pressure analysis, and (iii) limit equilibrium method (i.e., Bishop’s simplified and Morgenstern–Price method). It was assumed that the trenches were excavated in an engineered sand (Unimin 7030) and Indian Head till, which represent cohesionless and cohesive soils, respectively, considering various practical scenarios. Geotechnical modeling software, GeoStudio (ver. 2016; SIGMA/W and SLOPE/W), was used for both finite element analysis and the limit equilibrium method.