Numerical modeling of rainstorm-induced shallow landslides in saturated and unsaturated soils

For the assessment of shallow landslides triggered by rainfall, the physically based model coupling the infinite slope stability analysis with the hydrological modeling in nearly saturated soil has commonly been used due to its simplicity. However, in that model the rainfall infiltration in unsaturated soil could not be reliably simulated because a linear diffusion-type Richards’ equation rather than the complete Richards’ equation was used. In addition, the effect of matric suction on the shear strength of soil was not actually considered. Therefore, except the shallow landslide in saturated soil due to groundwater table rise, the shallow landslide induced by the loss in unsaturated shear strength due to the dissipation of matric suction could not be reliably assessed. In this study, a physically based model capable of assessing shallow landslides in variably saturated soils is developed by adopting the complete Richards’ equation with the effect of slope angle in the rainfall infiltration modeling and using the extended Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion to describe the unsaturated shear strength in the soil failure modeling. The influence of rainfall intensity and duration on shallow landslide is investigated using the developed model. The result shows that the rainfall intensity and duration seem to have similar influence on shallow landslides respectively triggered by the increase of positive pore water pressure in saturated soil and induced by the dissipation of matric suction in unsaturated soil. The rainfall duration threshold decreases with the increase in rainfall intensity, but remains constant for large rainfall intensity.     

Torsional vibrations of elastic foundation on saturated media

A comprehensive analytical solution is developed to examine the torsional vibration of an elastic foundation on a semi-infinite saturated elastic medium for the first time. First, the governing equations of saturated media are solved by use of Hankel transform techniques. Then, based on the assumption that the contact between the foundation and the half-space is perfectly bonded, this dynamic mixed boundary-value problem can lead to dual integral equations, which are further reduced to the standard Fredholm integral equations of the second kind and solved by numerical procedures. Numerical examples are given at the end of the paper. The numerical results indicate that the response of the elastic foundation strongly depends on the material and geometrical properties of both the saturated soil-foundation system and the load acting on the foundation. In most of the cases, the dynamic behavior of an elastic foundation on saturated media significantly differs from that of a rigid plate bearing on the elastic half-space.     

Transient foundation solution of saturated soil to impulsive concentrated loading

The transient dynamic response of saturated soil under suddenly applied normal and horizontal concentrated loading is studied in this paper. The behavior of saturated soil is governed by Biot's consolidation theory. The general solutions for Biot equations of equilibrium are derived in terms of displacements and variations of fluid volume, using Laplace–Hankel integral transforms. The solutions in the time domain can be evaluated by numerical inverse Laplace–Hankel transforms. Selected numerical results for displacements, stresses, and pore pressures are presented. Comparisons with existing closed-form solutions for the elastic half-space are made to confirm the accuracy of the present solutions. The solutions can be used to study a variety of transient wave propagation problems and dynamical interactions between saturated soil and structures.     

饱和岩石的各向异性及非线性黏弹性响应

在MTS伺服压机上对不同饱和状态的砂岩、大理岩标本进行了垂直层理和平行层理两个方向的正弦波加载试验,研究了饱和岩石的各向异性及非线性黏弹性行为. 在最大载荷低于岩石的屈服点时,获得的衰减、杨氏模量、泊松比、波速都表现出显著的各向异性,同时它们还具有较明显的应变振幅效应和频率效应. 随着应变振幅的增大,衰减近似呈线性增长,杨氏模量和泊松比近似呈线性下降. 在0.005-4Hz频段内除衰减不明显依赖频率以外,杨氏模量、泊松比、波速对频率的依赖性都较强; 当频段扩大到15Hz时,这4个参数都表现出较强的频率效应. 饱和岩石的衰减、杨氏模量、泊松比、波速均随饱和液体的黏滞系数增大而增大.     

A Comparative Study of the Atmospheric Layers below First Lifting Condensation Level for Instantaneous Pre-Monsoon Thunderstorm Ocurence at Agartala(23°30′N,91°15′E) and Ranchi(23°14′N,85°14′E) of India

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Dynamic response of partially sealed circular tunnel in viscoelastic saturated soil

Based on Biot's wave equation, dynamic response of a circular tunnel with partially sealed liner in viscoelastic saturated soil is investigated. By introducing two scalar potential functions, the analytical solutions of stresses, displacements and pore pressure induced by axisymmetric gradually applied step load are derived in Laplace transform domain. Numerical results are obtained by inverting Laplace transform presented by Durbin and used to analyze the influences of partial permeable property of boundary and viscoelastic damping coefficient of soil on dynamic response of the tunnel. It is shown that the attenuation of radial displacement appeared with the increase of viscoelastic damping coefficient of soil, and relative rigidity of liner and soil, and the influence of partial sealing property of boundary on stresses, displacements and pore pressure is remarkable. The available solutions of permeable and impermeable boundary conditions are only two extreme cases of this paper.     

Scattering of plane SV waves by cylindrical canyons in saturated porous medium

On the basis of Biot dynamic theory, an analytic solution of two-dimensional scattering and diffraction of plane SV waves by circular cylindrical canyons in a half space of saturated porous media is presented in this paper for the first time. The solution is obtained by employing the Fourier–Bessel series expansion technique. Parametric studies had been carried out, which includes: the angle of incidence, the frequency of the incident SV wave, the porosity of saturated porous medium and the stiffness and Poisson's ratio of the solid-skeleton. All the outcomes are useful for the seismic analysis of the surface topography conditions.     

Simplified multi-block constitutive model predicting earthquake-induced landslide triggering and displacement along slip surfaces of saturated sand

Slopes consisting of saturated sand have recently moved down-slope tens or hundreds of meters under the action of earthquakes. This paper presents a simplified but accurate method predicting the triggering and displacement of such landslides. For this purpose, a simplified constitutive model simulating soil response of saturated sands along slip surfaces is proposed and validated. Then, this constitutive model is coupled with the multi-block sliding system model to predict the triggering and displacement of such slides. The multi-block model considers a general mass sliding on a trajectory which consists of n linear segments. The steps needed to apply this method are described in detail. The method was applied successfully to predict the triggering, the motion and the final configuration of the well-documented (a) Higashi Takezawa, (b) Donghekou and (c) Nikawa earthquake-induced slides.     

The exponential decline in saturated hydraulic conductivity with depth: a novel method for exploring its effect on water flow paths and transit time distribution

The strong vertical gradient in soil and subsoil saturated hydraulic conductivity is characteristic feature of the hydrology of catchments. Despite the potential importance of these strong gradients, they have proven difficult to model using robust physically based schemes. This has hampered the testing of hypotheses about the implications of such vertical gradients for subsurface flow paths, residence times and transit time distribution. Here we present a general semi‐analytical solution for the simulation of 2D steady‐state saturated‐unsaturated flow in hillslopes with saturated hydraulic conductivity that declines exponentially with depth. The grid‐free solution satisfies mass balance exactly over the entire saturated and unsaturated zones. The new method provides continuous solutions for head, flow and velocity in both saturated and unsaturated zones without any interpolation process as is common in discrete numerical schemes. This solution efficiently generates flow pathlines and transit time distributions in hillslopes with the assumption of depth‐varying saturated hydraulic conductivity. The model outputs reveal the pronounced effect that changing the strength of the exponential decline in saturated hydraulic conductivity has on the flow pathlines, residence time and transit time distribution. This new steady‐state model may be useful to others for posing hypotheses about how different depth functions for hydraulic conductivity influence catchment hydrological response. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of long-term cyclic horizontal loading on bucket foundations in saturated loose sand

A 1-g model experimental study was conducted to investigate the accumulated rotations and unloading stiffness of bucket foundations in saturated loose sand. One-way horizontal cyclic loading was applied to model bucket foundations with embedment ratios 0.5 and 1.0. Up to 10⁴ cycles of loading were applied at a frequency of 0.2 Hz varying load amplitudes. The accumulated rotation of the bucket foundations increased with the number of cycles and the load amplitudes. Empirical equations were proposed to describe the accumulated rotation of the foundations. The unloading stiffness of foundations increased with the number of cycles but decreased with an increase in load amplitude. The initial unloading stiffness of L/D = 1.0 (L is skirt length; D is foundation diameter) was approximately twice that of L/D = 0.5. Excess pore water pressure difference of 50% was observed between L/D = 0.5 and 1.0. The suction and static capacity of the bucket increased with increase of bucket embedment ratio with a difference of 69.5% and 73.6% respectively between L/D = 0.5 and 1.0.