The durability of sixty-eight shale samples from the Appalachian region was measured using the Jar Slake (Soak) Test. Of the sixty-eight samples tested, fourteen degraded into a pile of flakes or mud, four developed small fractures, and fifty experienced no degradation at all. X-ray diffraction analysis identified kaolinite as the predominant clay mineral present in the shales. Shales composed primarily of kaolinite slake as a result of pore air compression. Pore air compression is favored by small pore radii. Thin section analysis found the fourteen shales that slaked had a system of macropores with an average diameter equal to 0.06 mm, the four samples that developed small fractures had macropores with an average diameter equal to 0.07 mm, and the fifty samples that experienced no degradation at all had macropores with an average diameter equal to 0.092 mm. This indicates that the size of the macropores has a definite influence on the slaking of the shales.

The principal objective of any pavement design procedure is to provide a structural system that will be suitable in a specific regional area and be able to sustain the anticipated traffic loading and frequency. The accomplishment of this objective and the utilization of the design procedure is highly dependent on its ability to predict future pavement performance. The success of such prediction is a function of the pavement model used and the relevancy and accuracy of its input parameters.

Shoreline erosion results in landslides and complex slope processes, under appropriate conditions, in unconsolidated materials forming the coastal bluffs. Shoreline erosion and bluff recession along most of the Great Lakes shoreline results in losses in millions of dollars annually. An understanding of bluff recession and the trends in the evolution of coastal bluffs is required for an evaluation of engineering and management solutions for the problems created. The factors effecting changes in bluff geometry include wave action, frost action, seepage effects, sheet wash, and weathering. An overview of the physical processes as they affect slope evolution, the available mechanical models, and the influence of slope parameters on the stability of the coastal bluffs are presented. The response of coastal slopes to the action of these factors is viewed as shallow failures and downslope transport as well as deep rotational slips. A distinction between the stability against deep slips which is termed as quasi-stability and the ultimate stability is made. The progress of slope evolution in coastal bluffs can be predicted with successive applications of the two-dimensional circular slip limit equilibrium analysis of slope stability using the effective stress method. The influence of slope parameters, namely, geometry (slope height and inclination), material properties (strength parameters and unit weight), and the relative position of the groundwater table on the limiting stability conditions of uniform slopes is presented based on such a limit equilibrium analysis. The relative influence of some of these parameters varies with slope height and the slopes can be viewed as low and high slopes with a height of 25 m as an approximate demarcation between the two groups.