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http://dx.doi.org/10.7843/kgs.2017.33.9.5

Influence of Estimation of Hydraulic Conductivity Function on Rainfall Infiltration into Unsaturated Soil Slope  

Cho, Sung-Eun (Dept. of Civil, Safety, and Environmental Engrg. & Construction Engrg. Research Institute, Hankyong National Univ.)
Publication Information
Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society / v.33, no.9, 2017 , pp. 5-22 More about this Journal
Abstract
The procedure that combines the result of infiltration analysis into stability analysis based on the limit equilibrium method is widely used to evaluate the impact of rainfall infiltration on slope stability. Accurate prediction of rainfall infiltration is essential to the prediction of landslides caused by rainfall, requires to obtain accurate unsaturated hydraulic properties of the soil. Among the unsaturated hydraulic characteristics of the soil, the importance of the soil-water characteristic curve describing the retained water characteristics of the soil is relatively well known and the measurement by test method to obtain the SWCC is gradually increasing. However, it takes a lot of time and expenses to experimentally measure the unsaturated conductivity characteristics of the soil. Therefore, it is common practice to estimate the hydraulic conductivity function from the SWCC. Although it is widely known that the SWCC has a great influence on rainfall infiltration, studies on the effect of the hydraulic conductivity function estimated from the SWCC on rainfall infiltration are very limited. In this study, we explained how the estimation model of the hydraulic conductivity function affects rainfall infiltration and slope stability analysis. To this end, one-dimensional infiltration analysis and slope stability analysis were conducted by using the data on the SWCC of weathered granite soil widely distributed in Korea. The applicability of each estimation model is discussed through review of the analysis results.
Keywords
Hydraulic conductivity function; Rainfall infiltration; Soil-water characteristic curve; Landslide;
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Times Cited By KSCI : 2  (Citation Analysis)
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