Sliding criterion (geotechnical engineering)

When geotechnical engineers talk about sliding criterion, they are interested in knowing if something (such as a structure or a slope) will stay in place or move downhill. To figure this out, they use something called the sliding criterion.

To understand the sliding criterion, imagine that you have a toy car on a steep slide. If the slide is too steep, the car will quickly slide down and crash at the bottom. But if the slide is not steep enough, the car won't move at all. The sliding criterion helps us figure out what the right angle is for the slide so that the toy car goes down slowly and safely.

In the same way, geotechnical engineers use the sliding criterion to figure out how steep a slope or how much weight a structure can hold without sliding or collapsing. They use formulas and calculations to take into account different factors, like the type of soil or rock the slope or structure is made of, how much water or moisture is present, and how heavy the load is.

By using the sliding criterion, geotechnical engineers can design structures that are safe and stable even in tricky or difficult environments. So the next time you see a building or a bridge, you can remember that the engineers used the sliding criterion to make sure it stayed in place and didn't slide away!