Stress Path Method: Second Edition

This paper updates the stress path method proposed by the first writer in 1967. Use of the method by the writers in their teaching and practice has helped evolve it into a systematic approach to elucidating and solving geotechnical problems. The underlying principle of the stress path method states that the behavior of a soil element depends on the stress path for the history and for the stressing the element will receive in the future. This paper presents the stress path method as a series of six steps that help identify and interrelate the fundamentals underlying a geotechnical situation involving force, deformation, stability, or fluid-flow. The paper gives desirable features and limitations of the method and illustrates the method by evaluating the likelihood of a shallow slide in the downstream face of a dam.