scholarly journals Soil Moisture Profiles of Unsaturated Colluvial Slopes Susceptible to Rainfall-Induced Landslides

Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Paolo Paronuzzi ◽  
Marco Del Fabbro ◽  
Alberto Bolla
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Pore Water Pressure ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Water Pressure ◽  
Soil Layer ◽  
Recurrence Time ◽  
Heavy Rainfall Event ◽  
Humid Climate ◽  
Moisture Profiles ◽  
Friuli Venezia Giulia

In this work, we describe soil moisture profiles related to typical colluvial slopes that were involved in rainfall-induced shallow failures occurring in alpine and pre-alpine areas of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region (NE Italy). The trend of the volumetric water content (θw) showed a general increase from the ground surface to the bottom soil layer, with two or three marked moisture peaks. The saturation degree (S) varied from 65–70% (topsoil horizon) to nearly saturated basal colluvium (S = 95–100%). Soil moisture data demonstrates that, for a very humid climate, colluvial covers are often close to the saturation condition for most of the year. The calculated suction profiles indicated that maximum values ranging from 40 to 55 kPa often occur in the slope surficial soil (depth < 0.2–0.5 m). This negative pore-water pressure greatly decreases after a heavy rainfall event because of the infiltration process. Complete saturation of colluvial cover in the alpine and pre-alpine regions generally requires rainfall exceeding 150–200 mm for a 24-h storm duration. This results in a recurrence time of Tr ≅ 5–10 years for critical rainfall episodes involving colluvial slopes in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region. The case histories analyzed demonstrate the importance of performing a detailed lithostratigraphic analysis of the colluvial deposit in order to properly define the suction measurement points, which there should be more of than the three-point determinations usually reported in the literature (for example, z = 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 m).

Study on Reinforce Saturated Soft Clay Foundation with Dynamic Consolidation by Drainage

2013 ◽  
Vol 438-439 ◽  
pp. 1171-1175
Author(s):  
Zhi Li Sui ◽  
Zhao Guang Li ◽  
Xu Peng Wang ◽  
Wen Li Li ◽  
Tie Jun Xu
Keyword(s):  
Pore Water ◽  
Pore Water Pressure ◽  
Water Pressure ◽  
Soft Clay ◽  
Soil Layer ◽  
Good Effect ◽  
Loading Test ◽  
Test Plate ◽  
Dynamic Consolidation ◽  
Saturated Soft Clay

Dynamic consolidation method has been widely used in improving soft land, but always inefficient to saturated soft clay land, which is hard to improve, and even leads to rubber soil. Dynamic and drain consolidation method will deal with it well, with drainage system, pore-water can be expelled instantly from saturated soft clay as impacting. The pore-water pressure and earth pressure test in construction, the standard penetration test, plate loading test, geotechnical test after construction, which are all effective methods for effect testing. There is a comprehensive detection through different depth of soil layer with different detecting means on construction site. The results show that improving saturated soft clay land with dynamic and drain consolidation method has obtained good effect, and the fruit can be guidance for such construction in the future.

scholarly journals Influence of pore water pressure change on consolidation behavior of saturated poroelastic medium

2020 ◽  
Vol 382 ◽  
pp. 375-379
Author(s):  
Chao-Lung Yeh ◽  
Wei-Cheng Lo ◽  
Cheng-Wei Lin ◽  
Chung-Feng Ding
Keyword(s):  
Pore Water ◽  
Pore Water Pressure ◽  
Saturated Porous Medium ◽  
Water Pressure ◽  
Soil Layer ◽  
Pressure Change ◽  
Clay Layer ◽  
Poroelastic Medium ◽  
Total Settlement ◽  
Consolidation Behavior

Abstract. There are many factors causing land subsidence, and groundwater extraction is one of the most important causes of subsidence. A set of coupled partial differential equations are derived in this study by using the poro-elasticity theory and linear stress-strain constitutive relation to describe the one-dimensional consolidation in a saturated porous medium subjected to pore water pressure change due to groundwater table depression. Simultaneously, the closed-form analytical solutions for excess pore water pressure and total settlement are obtained. To illustrate the consolidation behavior of the poroelastic medium, the saturated layer of clay sandwiched between two sand layers is simulated, and the dimensionless pore water pressure changes with depths and the dimensionless total settlement as function of time in the clay layer are examined. The results show that the greater the water level change in the upper and lower sand layers, the greater the pore water pressure change and the total settlement of the clay layer, and the more time it takes to reach the steady state. If the amount of groundwater replenishment is increased, the soil layer will rebound.

A regionally explicit, global SWI calibration based on ISMN observations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manolis G. Grillakis
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Root Zone ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
European Space Agency ◽  
Soil Layer ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Water Index ◽  
Soil Moisture Data

&lt;p&gt;Remote sensing has proven to be an irreplaceable tool for monitoring soil moisture. The European Space Agency (ESA), through the Climate Change Initiative (CCI), has provided one of the most substantial contributions in the soil water monitoring, with almost 4 decades of global satellite derived and homogenized soil moisture data for the uppermost soil layer. Yet, due to the inherent limitations of many of the remote sensors, only a limited soil depth can be monitored. To enable the assessment of the deeper soil layer moisture from surface remotely sensed products, the Soil Water Index (SWI) has been established as a convolutive transformation of the surface soil moisture estimation, under the assumption of uniform hydraulic conductivity and the absence of transpiration. The SWI uses a single calibration parameter, the T-value, to modify its response over time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here the Soil Water Index (SWI) is calibrated using ESA CCI soil moisture against in situ observations from the International Soil Moisture Network and then use Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to find the best physical soil, climate, and vegetation descriptors at a global scale to regionalize the calibration of the T-value. The calibration is then used to assess a root zone related soil moisture for the period 2001 &amp;#8211; 2018.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The results are compared against the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, ERA5 Land reanalysis soil moisture dataset, showing a good agreement, mainly over mid-latitudes. The results indicate that there is added value to the results of the machine learning calibration, comparing to the uniform T-value. This work contributes to the exploitation of ESA CCI soil moisture data, while the produced data can support large scale soil moisture related studies.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Bench-Scale Experiments on Effects of Pipe Flow and Entrapped Air in Soil Layer on Hillslope Landslides

Geosciences ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasutaka Tanaka ◽  
Taro Uchida ◽  
Hitoshi Nagai ◽  
Hikaru Todate
Keyword(s):  
Water Supply ◽  
Pore Water ◽  
Pore Water Pressure ◽  
Water Pressure ◽  
Soil Layer ◽  
Silica Sand ◽  
Bench Scale ◽  
Drainage Capacity ◽  
Entrapped Air ◽  
Model Slope

Soil pipes are commonly found in landslide scarps, and it has been suggested that build-up of pore water pressure due to clogged soil pipes influences landslide initiation. Several researchers have also suggested that entrapped air in the soil layer increases the pore water pressure. We carried out bench-scale model experiments to investigate the influence of soil pipes and entrapped air on the build-up of pore water pressure. We installed a water supply system consisting of an artificial rainfall simulator, and used a water supply tank to supply water to the model slope and artificial pipe. We used two types of artificial pipe: A straight pipe, and a confluence of three pipes. Furthermore, we placed a layer of silica sand on top of the model slope to investigate the effect of entrapped air in the soil layer on the build-up of pore water pressure. Silica sand is finer than the sand that we used for the bulk of the model slope. Our results indicate that, although artificial pipes decrease the pore water pressure when the amount of water supplied was smaller than the pipe drainage capacity, the pore water pressure increased when the water supply was too large for the artificial pipe to drain. In particular, the confluence of pipes increased the pore water pressure because the water supply exceeded the drainage capacity. The results also indicate that entrapped air increases the pore water pressure in the area with relatively low drainage capacity, too. Based on these results, we found that although soil pipes can drain a certain amount of water from a soil layer, they can also increase the pore water pressure, and destabilize slopes. Furthermore, entrapped air enhances the trend that the pore water pressure can increase in the area with relatively low drainage capacity, as pore water pressure increases when too much water is supplied, and the artificial pipe cannot drain all of it.

scholarly journals The Soil Moisture during Dry Spells Model and Its Verification

Resources ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Biniak-Pieróg ◽  
Mieczysław Chalfen ◽  
Andrzej Żyromski ◽  
Andrzej Doroszewski ◽  
Tomasz Jóźwicki
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Least Squares Method ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Soil Layer ◽  
Atmospheric Precipitation ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Model Verification ◽  
Individual Measurement ◽  
Dry Spells ◽  
Dry Spell

The objective of this study was the development and verification of a model of soil moisture decrease during dry spells—SMDS. The analyses were based on diurnal information of the occurrence of atmospheric precipitation and diurnal values of soil moisture under a bare soil surface, covering the period of 2003–2019, from May until October. A decreasing exponential trend was used for the description of the rate of moisture decrease in six layers of the soil profile during dry spells. The least squares method was used to determine, for each dry spell and soil depth, the value of exponent α , which described the rate of soil moisture decrease. Data from the years 2003–2015 were used for the identification of parameter α of the model for each of the layers separately, while data from 2016–2019 were used for model verification. The mean relative error between moisture values measured in 2016–2019 and the calculated values was 3.8%, and accepted as sufficiently accurate. It was found that the error of model fitting decreased with soil layer depth, from 8.1% for the surface layer to 1.0% for the deepest layer, while increasing with the duration of the dry spell at the rate of 0.5%/day. The universality of the model was also confirmed by verification made with the use of the results of soil moisture measurements conducted in the years 2009–2019 at two other independent locations. However, it should be emphasized that in the case of the surface horizon of soil, for which the process of soil drying is a function of factors occurring in the atmosphere, the developed model may have limited application and the obtained results may be affected by greater errors. The adoption of calculated values of coefficient α as characteristic for the individual measurement depths allowed calculation of the predicted values of moisture as a function of the duration of a dry spell, relative to the initial moisture level adopted as 100%. The exponential form of the trend of soil moisture changes in time adopted for the analysis also allowed calculation of the duration of a hypothetical dry spell t, after which soil moisture at a given depth drops from the known initial moisture θ0 to the predicted moisture θ. This is an important finding from the perspective of land use.

scholarly journals The Evolution of Pore Water Pressure in a Saturated Soil Layer between Two Draining Zones by Analytical and Numerical Methods

2015 ◽  
Vol 05 (04) ◽  
pp. 390-398
Author(s):  
Abib Tall ◽  
Cheikh Mbow ◽  
Daouda Sangaré ◽  
Mapathé Ndiaye ◽  
Papa Sanou Faye
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Methods ◽  
Pore Water ◽  
Pore Water Pressure ◽  
Water Pressure ◽  
Soil Layer ◽  
Saturated Soil

scholarly journals The canopy interception–landslide initiation conundrum: insight from a tropical secondary forest in northern Thailand

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 651-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy C. Sidle ◽  
Alan D. Ziegler
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Pore Water ◽  
Pore Water Pressure ◽  
Secondary Forest ◽  
Water Pressure ◽  
Smoothing Effect ◽  
Canopy Interception ◽  
Mean Intensity ◽  
Tropical Secondary Forest ◽  
Dry Conditions

Abstract. The interception and smoothing effect of forest canopies on pulses of incident rainfall and its delivery to the soil has been suggested as a factor in moderating peak pore water pressure in soil mantles, thus reducing the risk of shallow landslides. Here we provide 3 years of rainfall and throughfall data in a tropical secondary dipterocarp forest characterized by few large trees in northern Thailand, along with selected soil moisture dynamics, to address this issue. Throughfall was an estimated 88 % of rainfall, varying from 86 to 90 % in individual years. Data from 167 events demonstrate that canopy interception was only weakly associated (via a nonlinear relationship) with total event rainfall, but not significantly correlated with duration, mean intensity, or antecedent 2-day precipitation (API2). Mean interception during small events (≤  35 mm) was 17 % (n  =  135 events) compared with only 7 % for large events (> 35 mm; n  =  32). Examining small temporal intervals within the largest and highest intensity events that would potentially trigger landslides revealed complex patterns of interception. The tropical forest canopy had little smoothing effect on incident rainfall during the largest events. During events with high peak intensities, high wind speeds, and/or moderate-to-high pre-event wetting, measured throughfall was occasionally higher than rainfall during large event peaks, demonstrating limited buffering. However, in events with little wetting and low-to-moderate wind speed, early event rainfall peaks were buffered by the canopy. As rainfall continued during most large events, there was little difference between rainfall and throughfall depths. A comparison of both rainfall and throughfall depths to conservative mean intensity–duration thresholds for landslide initiation revealed that throughfall exceeded the threshold in 75 % of the events in which rainfall exceeded the threshold for both wet and dry conditions. Throughfall intensity for the 11 largest events (rainfall  =  65–116 mm) plotted near or above the intensity–duration threshold for landslide initiation during wet conditions; 5 of the events were near or above the threshold for dry conditions. Soil moisture responses during large events were heavily and progressively buffered at depths of 1 to 2 m, indicating that the timescale of any short-term smoothing of peak rainfall inputs (i.e.,  ≤  1 h) has little influence on peak pore water pressure at depths where landslides would initiate in this area. Given these findings, we conclude that canopy interception would have little effect on mitigating shallow landslide initiation during the types of monsoon rainfall conditions in this and similar tropical secondary forest sites.

scholarly journals Numerical Simulation of Vacuum Preloading for Reinforcing Soil inside Composite Bucket Foundation for Offshore Wind Turbines

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 273
Author(s):  
Hongyan Ding ◽  
Yanjian Peng ◽  
Puyang Zhang ◽  
Liyun Nie ◽  
Hanbo Zhai
Keyword(s):  
Pore Water ◽  
Pore Water Pressure ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Water Pressure ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Turbine ◽  
Vacuum Preloading ◽  
Consolidation Process ◽  
Bucket Foundation

The composite bucket foundation (CBF) with seven honeycomb subdivisions is a new foundation for offshore wind turbine structures. The bearing capacity of CBF can be improved by consolidation of soil inside the CBF, which is caused by the vacuum preloading method after installation. A three-dimensional numerical model is established to simulate the consolidation process of soil for CBF with and without subdivisions in terms of vertical settlement, pore water pressure and void ratio of the soil. This analysis investigates the reinforcement effect of the two foundation types to assess the influence of the bulkheads. The results obtained show that there are obvious reinforcement effects for both foundation types. In the early stage of consolidation, vertical settlement is rapid, and this becomes stable with time. The depth at which the pore water pressure becomes negative is the depth showing the main reinforcement. Vacuum pressure decreases continuously with increase in soil depth and time. In addition, the excess pore water pressure in the soil dissipates, which turns into the soil effective stress. Bulkheads provide vertical drainage channels in the soil and shorten the seepage path, allowing the extraction of more pore water. This is conducive to the improvement of shallow soil, while also decreasing the extraction of pore water in deep soil and the region of the soil that can be reinforced.

scholarly journals Three-Dimensional Upper Bound Limit Analysis on the Collapse of Shallow Soil Tunnels considering Roof Stratification and Pore Water Pressure

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong-Tao Wang ◽  
Ping Liu ◽  
Chi Liu ◽  
Xin Zhang ◽  
Yong Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pore Water ◽  
Upper Bound ◽  
Pore Water Pressure ◽  
Water Pressure ◽  
Nonlinear Coefficient ◽  
Soil Layer ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Support Pressure ◽  
Flow Rule ◽  
Soil Cohesion

Based on the plastic upper bound theorem, a three-dimensional kinematically admissible velocity field is constructed for the collapse of the soil masses above a shallow tunnel. In this field, this paper considers the influences of the roof stratification, pore water pressure, ground overload, and support pressure. This study deduced the upper bound solutions of the weight of the collapsed soil masses and the corresponding collapse surfaces by utilizing the nonlinear failure criterion, associated flow rule, and variation principle. Furthermore, we verified the validity of the proposed method in this paper by comparing this research with the existing work and numerical simulation results. This study obtains the influence laws of varying parameters on the area and weight of the collapsed soil masses. The results reveal that the area and weight of the collapsed soil masses increase with increasing support pressure and soil cohesion, but decrease with increasing thickness of the upper soil layer, nonlinear coefficient, pore water pressure, and ground overload. Among them, the roof stratification, pore water pressure, soil cohesion, and nonlinear coefficient have a significant influence on tunnel collapse, which should be given special consideration in engineering design.

scholarly journals Responses of vertical soil moisture to rainfall pulses and land uses in a typical loess hilly area, China

Solid Earth ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 595-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Yu ◽  
W. Wei ◽  
L. D. Chen ◽  
F. Y. Jia ◽  
L. Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Soil Layer ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Vegetation Restoration ◽  
Pinus Tabulaeformis ◽  
Heavy Rainfall Event ◽  
Hydrological Process ◽  
Hilly Area ◽  
Moisture Variation

Abstract. Soil moisture plays a key role in vegetation restoration and ecosystem stability in arid and semiarid regions. The response of soil moisture to rainfall pulses is an important hydrological process, which is strongly influenced by land use during the implementation of vegetation restoration. In this study, vertical soil moisture variations of woodland (Pinus tabulaeformis), native grassland (Stipa bungeana), shrubland (Hippophea rhamnoides), cropland (Triticum aestivum) and artificial grassland (Onobrychis viciaefolia) in five soil profiles were monitored in a typical loess hilly area during the 2010 growing season. The results demonstrated that rainfall pulses directly affected soil moisture variation. A multi-peak pattern of soil moisture appeared during the growing season, notably in the surface soil layer. Meanwhile, the response of each vegetation type to rainfall was inconsistent, and a time-lag effect before reaching the peak value was detected, following each heavy rainfall event. The response duration of soil moisture, however, varied markedly with the size of rainfall events. Furthermore, higher soil water content was detected in grassland and shrubland. Woodland was characterized by relatively lower soil moisture values throughout the investigation period. Our research suggests that vegetation restoration efforts should give priority to grassland and shrubland at the research site. We suggest that more studies should be focused on the characteristics of community structure and spatial vegetation distribution on soil moisture dynamics, particularly within the grass and shrub ecosystems.

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