scholarly journals Influence of Rainfall Intensity on the Stability of Unsaturated Soil Slope: Case Study of R523 Road in Thulamela Municipality, Limpopo Province, South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (24) ◽  
pp. 8824
Author(s):  
Fhatuwani Sengani ◽  
François Mulenga

The purpose of this paper was to analyze the impact of extreme rainfall on the recurrence of slope instability using the Thulamela Municipality roads (R523) as a case study. To this end, the historical rainfall data of the area of study were analyzed between 1988 and 2018. The results show that a significant increase in rainfall is usually experienced in the summer months of December and January. Following this, the factor of safety (FoS) of slopes of silt clay, clay, and clay loam soils were estimated using the SLIDE simulator (Numerical software “Finite Element Method (FEM)”) under sunny to rainy conditions of the area. A complementary model, FLACSlope (Numerical software “Finite Difference Method (FDM)”), was utilized to simulate FoS and pore water pressure in sunny and rainy conditions of the area. Simulation results show that extreme rainfall has the ability to reduce the shear strength and resistance of the soil slope material. This may explain the recurrent landslides noted in the area. Finally, the water pore pressure has been simulated to increase with the increased water table, which generally pushes the soil particles apart and reduces the stress between the particles resulting in soil slope failure. Extreme rainfall alters the phase of the material solid in a manner that may require further research for a better understanding.

Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Panagiotis Sitarenios ◽  
Francesca Casini

This paper presents a three-dimensional slope stability limit equilibrium solution for translational planar failure modes. The proposed solution uses Bishop’s average skeleton stress combined with the Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion to describe soil strength evolution under unsaturated conditions while its formulation ensures a natural and smooth transition from the unsaturated to the saturated regime and vice versa. The proposed analytical solution is evaluated by comparing its predictions with the results of the Ruedlingen slope failure experiment. The comparison suggests that, despite its relative simplicity, the analytical solution can capture the experimentally observed behaviour well and highlights the importance of considering lateral resistance together with a realistic interplay between mechanical parameters (cohesion) and hydraulic (pore water pressure) conditions.


2015 ◽  
Vol 744-746 ◽  
pp. 690-694
Author(s):  
Muhammad Rehan Hakro ◽  
Indra Sati Hamonangan Harahap

Rainfall-induced landslides occur in many parts of the world and causing a lot of the damages. For effective prediction of rainfall-induced landslides the comprehensive understanding of the failure process is necessary. Under different soil and hydrological conditions experiments were conducted to investigate and clarify the mechanism of slope failure. The failure in model slope was induced by sprinkling the rainfall on slope composed of sandy soil in small flume. Series of tests were conducted in small scale flume to better understand the failure process in sandy slopes. The moisture content was measured with advanced Imko TDR (Time Domain Reflectrometry) moisture sensors in addition to measurements of pore pressure with piezometers. The moisture content increase rapidly to reach the maximum possible water content in case of higher intensity of rainfall, and higher intensity of the rainfall causes higher erosion as compared to smaller intensity of the rainfall. The controlling factor for rainfall-induced flowslides was density of the slope, rather than intensity of the rainfall and during the flowslide the sudden increase in pore pressure was observed. Higher pore pressure was observed at the toe of the slope as compared to upper part of the slope.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 4469-4473
Author(s):  
D. A. Mangnejo ◽  
S. J. Oad ◽  
S. A. Kalhoro ◽  
S. Ahmed ◽  
F. H. Laghari ◽  
...  

Slope instability may be a result of change in stress conditions, rise in groundwater table and rainfall. Similarly, many slopes that have been stable for several years can abruptly fail due to changes in geometry, weak soil shear strength or as the effect of an external force. Debris flows (i.e. slope failures) take place without any warning and can have devastating results. So, it is vital to understand the slope failure mechanism and adopt safety prevention measures. Soil nailing is one of the widely used stabilization techniques for soil slopes. In this study, soil nail technique is proposed to upgrade the existing slope in clay. A parametric study was conducted to understand the effects of different nail diameter (i.e. 25mm and 40mm) and nail inclination (i.e. 200, 250, 300, 350 and 400) on slope stability. Morgenstern-Price (i.e. limit equilibrium) method was used to determine the factor of safety of the slope. It was found that the factor of safety of the existing slope improved significantly with three rows of 40mm diameter nail at an inclination of 400.


Author(s):  
Łukasz Zawadzki ◽  
Marek Bajda

Abstract Soils occurring in the soil “active zone” are in contact with the surface and are directly influenced by external factors (mainly climatic changes) that cause variation in their parameters over time. Dynamic and uncontrolled changes of soil properties e.g. due to rainfall and evapotranspiration processes may affect field test results leading to the misinterpretation of the obtained data. This paper presents investigations on the influence of moisture content changes in sandy soils on CPTU results. For this purpose, a field ground model has been constructed and five CPTU tests with a different moisture content of soil were carried out. During the investigations, the tip resistance (qc), friction on sleeve (fs), and pore water pressure (u2) were measured. Moreover, a TDR probe was applied to determine the distribution of the moisture content in the studied soil columns. Differences between CPT results obtained in saturated and unsaturated soils have been shown. Furthermore, a simple equation to correct the tip resistance value due to the impact of the degree of saturation has been proposed.


2005 ◽  
Vol 78 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 105-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.M. Tsao ◽  
M.K. Wang ◽  
M.C. Chen ◽  
Y. Takeuchi ◽  
S. Matsuura ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 2839
Author(s):  
Sinhang Kang ◽  
Seung-Rae Lee ◽  
Sung-Eun Cho

Shallow slope failures occur almost every year during the rainy season. Continuous observation of the meteorological parameters and hydrological characteristics is required to more clearly understand the triggering mechanisms of shallow slope failure. In addition, influential factors, such as type of relative permeability models, air flow, and variation of hydraulic conductivity associated with stress–strain behavior of soil, have significant effects on the actual mechanism of rainfall infiltration. Real-time data including hourly rainfall and pore water pressure in response to rainfall was recorded by devices; then, the change in pore pressure from the devices was compared to the results from the infiltration analysis with applications of three relative permeability models, air flow, and the coupled hydro-mechanical analysis to examine an appropriate site-specific approach to a rainfall infiltration analysis. The infiltration and stability analyses based on the site-specific hydrologic characteristics were utilized to create maps of safety factors that depend on the cumulative rainfall. In regions vulnerable to landslides, rainfall forecast information and safety factor maps built by applying various rainfall scenarios can be useful in preparing countermeasures against disasters during the rainy season.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianqing Jiang ◽  
Reqiang Liu

One of the commonly used techniques to improve marine soft ground is the drainage consolidation method by plastic board drains (PBDs). But some complex marine soft ground will cause construction inconvenience of PBDs in certain areas of these sites, thus affecting the improvement effect. An alternative possible approach to overcoming these deficiencies may be the combination of PBDs and sand wick drains (SWDs) (i.e., composite prefabricated vertical drains (CPVDs)) as vertical drainage channels in the same site. In order to verify the suitability and performance of this method in marine soft ground improvement, a case study was performed based on the field monitoring and construction of the marine soft ground of an intercity express railway project in China. The construction procedure using the CPVD system, the field monitoring instrumentation scheme, and the design of fill surcharge level were described, and the field monitoring data were presented. The settlement characteristics, dissipation features of pore water pressure, and the horizontal movement pattern were assessed. In addition, predictions of ultimate settlement, postconstruction settlement, and consolidation degree were discussed by applying a modified hyperbolic model. The results show that the marine ground improved by the CPVD system is suitable for the construction of intercity express railway and high-speed railway. The improvement construction period of complex marine soft ground will be greatly shortened by the proposed parallel construction programme. This work will provide technical supports and application reference for the improvement of the similar marine soft ground.


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