Incorporating hydro-mechanical coupling in an analysis of the effects of rainfall patterns on unsaturated soil slope sta
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Incorporating hydro-mechanical coupling in an analysis of the effects of rainfall patterns on unsaturated soil slope stability L. Z. Wu 1
&
Q. Xu 1 & J. D. Zhu 1
Received: 2 March 2017 / Accepted: 4 August 2017 # Saudi Society for Geosciences 2017
Abstract Rainfall-induced landslides can cause loss of life and damage to property, infrastructure, and the environment. Rainfall patterns affect the pore-water pressure of unsaturated soil slopes, and are related to the slopes’ stability. Four rainfall patterns were chosen to represent natural rainfall patterns for an examination of rainfall infiltration into soil slopes using numerical models incorporating coupled water infiltration and deformation in unsaturated soils. Our analysis showed that rainfall patterns play a significant role in the distribution of the pore-water pressure in soil slopes, and influence the slope stability. The pore-water pressure profile of soil slopes and the factor of safety are affected by the ratio of rainfall intensity and the coefficient of permeability. The depth and shape of the shallow sliding plane of the landslide is closely related to the rainfall pattern; moreover, the results showed a correlation between the factor of safety of the slope and the rainfall intensity. This relationship can be described by a dimensionless rainfall intensity. The nonlinear relationship can be used to estimate the slope stability resulting from rainfall infiltration when the hydro-mechanical coupling in unsaturated soil slopes is considered.
Keywords Unsaturated soil . Hydro-mechanical coupling . Rainfall pattern . Sliding plane
* L. Z. Wu [email protected]
1
State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, Sichuan 610059, People’s Republic of China
Introduction Rainfall-induced landslides are influenced by many factors; these can generally be divided into internal and external factors. Current research on rainfall-induced landslides focuses mainly on two aspects: (1) studying the processes and mechanisms of infiltration into slopes and the internal factors affecting slope stability using conceptual models and (2) using numerical methods to analyse the relationship between rainfall and landslides. These studies examine slopes and landslides utilizing both experimental and analytical methods, (e.g., Jia et al. 2009; Wu et al. 2015; Wu et al. 2017a). Large-scale model experiments are costly and involve limitations such as the model size. Many numerical methods used for landslide analysis have examined the landslide failure and the post-failure stages (Bandara and Soga 2015). The complexity involved in landslides can be effectively modelled using numerical tools that incorporate fully coupled water infiltration and deformation in partially saturated soils (Bandara and Soga 2015; Bandara et al. 2016). Landslide forecasting should, and does, take into account the process of rainfall infiltration into soil slopes. However, the effect of rainfall patterns is extreme
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