• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.41-49
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• 2014

Intensive rainfall causes frequent slope failures at the shallow depths of slopes. Because soil layers at shallow depths of slopes usually become dense, and its permeability and soil strength vary according to depth, forensic studies and stability analyses of shallow slope failure need to consider the depth-variant soil properties. In this study, the effect of depth-variant soil properties on surface failure of slopes during rain infiltration is investigated using numerical analysis. Three different cases considering depth-variant soil properties were conducted and the results were compared. For the analysis, undisturbed soils at three different depths were sampled at actual slope failure sites and the properties including strength and permeability characteristics at each depth were obtained. Stability analysis and seepage analysis were conducted using actual rainfall records. The comparison of the results shows that analysis could lead to an erroneous conclusion according to the way of considering depth-variant soil properties. The case in which depth-variant soil properties were considered predicted similar failure times and failure shapes with the actual failure. Therefore it is recommended that the depth-variant soil properties should be considered for the analysis of shallow slope failure during rain infiltration.