Toe cutting of hillslopes that are intended for the expansion of the transportation networks across the hilly regions need to follow an engineered basis to avert catastrophic failures. The commonly utilized deterministic Limit Equilibrium Method (LEM) does not incorporate the uncertainties in geotechnical propertiesand might exhibit inappropriate or erroneous consequences of toe excavation. In order to highlight the chances of toe-excavation induced slope failures, this paper reports the outcomes of the probabilistic stability analysis while considering one-dimensional spatial variability of soil shear strength parameters. The importance of such probabilistic analyses is established by finding that 79% of the toe-excavated slopes, which are judged safe from deterministic analysis, actually exhibit high probabilities of failure. Further, the influences of coefficient of variation (CoV) and the correlation between the shear strength parameters are also highlighted. The probability of failure of the cut slopes is found to be decreased by around 70% when the correlation coefficient of the shearstrength parameters decreased from +0.5 to -0.5. The permissible width of toe excavation is found to be governed by the indicators of spatial variability. It is revealed that for a CoV value of 0.2 and 0.3, a maximum horizontal extent of 7 m and 5 m can be excavated without leading to slope failure for a dimensionlesscorrelation length up to 0.2 and 0.1, respectively.

Observations of drainage in earthen dams indicate that the phenomenon of clogging can lead to a radical reduction in the efficiency of drainage, making it non-functional within a few years after construction. This paper discusses the most common forms of clogging in drainage blankets and their influence on seepage and stability of earthen dams. Different clogging typologies are studied for both horizontal and inclined drainage blankets by reduction in drain length, thickness or by simulating random clogging scenarios. Two-dimensionalfinite element analysis is carried out to decipher the influence of clogging on the temporal seepage and stability response of earthen dams. The results of the study indicated that clogging typologies have recognizable effect on the response of the earthen dams. Inward clogging is identified as the most critical clogging scenario in earthen dams.