Repairing expansive soil channel slope with soilbags

Shallow slope failure often occurs in expansive soil channel slopes because of the strong swelling–shrinkage behavior of the expansive soils and the well-developed fissures. In this paper, a repair method for expansive soil channel slopes using soilbags is proposed. Model tests were carried out to illustrate the effect of this repair method. The test results indicate that the assembly of soilbags arranged on the slope limits the deformation of expansive soils after water absorption and reduces the infiltration and evaporation during the drying-wetting cycle process. A method for analyzing the sliding stability of the repaired slope was suggested and a case study of repairing a 65m testing expansive soil channel slope with soilbags was presented in the South-to-North Water Transfer Project in China. The monitoring of vertical and lateral displacements of the testing slope demonstrates the effectiveness of using soilbags to repair the expansive soil channel slopes.