15.4. STABILITY ANALYSIS OF EMBANKMENT DAMS Quantitative assessment of the stability of slopes is very important in the design of embankment dams. Prior to 1935, the side slopes of embankment dams were selected purely on the basis of past experiences and preferences of designers. During the last fifty years there has been considerable improvement in the understanding of soil shear strength, laboratory methods of soil testing, and the methods of stability analysis. As a result of all these developments, it is now possible to quantitatively assess the stability of slopes of an embankment dam.
