Effects of Material Composition and Water Content on the Mechanical Properties of Landslide Deposits Triggered by the Wenchuan Earthquake

Abundant landslide deposits were triggered by the Wenchuan earthquake, providing a rich source of material for subsequent debris flows or slope failures under rainfall conditions. A good understanding of the physical and mechanical properties of the landslide deposits is very important to the research on slope failure mechanisms and the initiation of debris flow. Laboratory biaxial compression tests are used to study the material compositions and water content impacts on the mechanical properties of landslide deposits, and a discrete element method (a bond‐contact model) is used to study the particle stiffness, bond force, friction coefficient and confining stress impact on the mechanical behaviors and the relationships between the numerical and experimental parameters. The experimental results show that the failure stress of landslide deposits is decreased with increasing content of fine particles and also with increased water content, especially at the initial increasing stage. Cohesion of the saturated landslide deposits is increased, but the friction angle is decreased with the increase in the fine particle content. Shear strength parameters (the cohesion and friction angle) are decreased with the increasing water content at the initial increasing stage, and then, they slowly decrease. There is a critical value of the water content at 5%‐7% (in weight) for the failure stress and shear strength parameters of the landslide deposits. Quadratic equations are presented to describe the relation between the bond force and cohesion, and the numerical friction coefficient and the experimental friction angle.