Continuum deformation and stability analyses of a steep hillside slope under rainfall infiltration |
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Authors: | Ronaldo I Borja Joshua A White |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA |
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Abstract: | Rainfall weakens an earth slope in a number of ways. It increases the degree of saturation of the soil, thereby breaking the
bonds created by surface tension between the soil particles. When the volume of infiltrating water is large enough to mobilize
fluid flow inside the soil matrix, the fluid exerts a downhill frictional drag on the slope, creating a destabilizing effect.
When excess fluid can no longer infiltrate the slope due to increased saturation in the soil, it is discharged as a surface
runoff and erodes the slope. In this paper, we present a physics-based framework for continuum modeling of a hydrologically
driven slope failure similar to what occurred in a steep experimental catchment CB1 near Coos Bay, Oregon. We quantify the
rainfall-induced slope deformation and assess the failure potential of the slope using finite element modeling that couples
solid deformation with fluid pressure in an unsaturated soil. Results of the studies suggest that for a steep hillside slope
underlain by a shallow bedrock similar to the CB1 site, failure would occur by multiple slide blocks with the failure surfaces
emerging on the slope face. These results suggest that an infinite slope mechanism would be insufficient to represent the
failure kinematics for a slope similar to CB1. |
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