• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.27-40
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• 2016

Conventional warning criteria for landslides due to rainfall in broad regions have limitations, because they did not have proper reflection of topography, forest physiognomy, and unsaturated soil properties, et al. This study suggested a new stability model for unsaturated slope analyses during rainfall, considering rainfall pattern, geomorphological characteristics (slope angle, soil depth), engineering properties of unsaturated soils, and tree surcharge and root reinforcement. Stability analysis not considering root reinforcement and tree surcharge tends to over-predict a factor of safety in unsaturated slopes. Developed slope stability model was used to build database on the factor of safety in unsaturated slopes during rainfall, and it was integrated with GIS to do quantitative risk analysis in landslide risk areas specified in Ulju. Landslide risk areas were located at downstream of the point with sudden drop in safety factor, as well as at regions with low safety factor during rainfall.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.51-64
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• 2000

This paper presents a procedure of calculating a safety factor of the unsaturated slope suffering from the rainfall infiltration. The process of infiltration into a slope due to rainfall and its effect on the behavior of the soil slope are examined by using a two dimensional finite element flow-deformation coupled analysis. A factor of safety is calculated at various elapsed times after the commencement of rainfall as in the following procedure. First, stresses are estimated at each Gaussian point from the coupled finite element analysis. Then, the global stress smoothing method is applied to get a continuous stress field. Based on this stress field, a factor of safety is calculated for a specified slip surface by a stress integration scheme. Then, a search strategy is used to find out a critical slip surface which is associated with the minimum factor of safety. Some numerical examples are analyzed in order to study the effect of hydraulic conductivity on the slope stability during rain-induced infiltration. According to the results, local failure zone can be formed near the slope surface due to inhomogeneous distribution of hydraulic conductivity If the failure zone is once formed, then the region extends until a large amount of slide activates. Therefore the local failure can be neglected no longer in the stability analysis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.09a
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• pp.225-232
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• 2009

Infiltration of rainfall causes railway slopes to be unstable and may result in failure. Basic relationship between the rainfall and stability of railway embankment is defined to analyze its stability by rainfall. An experimental study for defining of infiltration rate of rainfall into slope is conducted in the lab. The results of Rainfall infiltration show that rainfall infiltration is not equal to infiltration as like reservoir because rate of rainfall infiltration is controlled by slope angle. Based on these results, boundary condition of rainfall is altered and various numerical analysis are performed. The variation of shear strength, the degree of saturation and pore-water pressure for railway slope during rainfall can be predicted and the safety factor of railway slope can be expressed as the function of rainfall amount, namely rainfall index. And suggested rainfall index is compared with the rail transport operation control which is used in KORAIL. It is judged that this rainfall index can be a good tool for the rail-transport operation control.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.3C
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• pp.167-178
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• 2008

Rainfall-induced slope failures were simulated by seepage and stability analyses for actual slopes of weathered soils. After undisturbed sampling and testing on a specimen of unsaturated conditions, a seepage analysis was performed under actual rainfall and it was found that the pore water pressure increased at the boundary of soil and rock layers. The safety factor of slope stability decreased below 1.0 and the failure of actual slope could be simulated. Under design rainfall intensity, the seepage analysis could not include the effects of the antecedent rainfall and the rainfall duration. Due to these limitations, the safety factor of slope stability resulted in above 1.0, since the hydraulic head of soil layers had not be affected significantly. In the analysis of another slope failure, the parameters of unsaturated conditions were evaluated using artificial neural network (ANN). In the analysis of seepage, the boundary of soil and rock was saturated sufficiently and then the safety factor could be calculated below 1.0. It was found that the failure of actual slope can be simulated by ANN-based estimation.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.229-237
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• 2011

Today they use a weather radar with spatially high resolution in predicting rainfall intensity and utilizing the information for super short-range forecast in order to make predictions of such severe meteorological phenomena as heavy rainfall and snow. For a weather radar, they use the Z-R relation between the reflectivity factor(Z) and rainfall intensity(R) by rainfall particles in the atmosphere in order to estimate intensity. Most used among the various Z-R relation is $Z=200R^{1.6}$ applied to stratiform rain. It's also used to estimate basic rainfall intensity of a weather radar run by the weather center. This study set out to compare rainfall intensity between the reflectivity of a weather radar and the ground rainfall of ASOS(Automatic Surface Observation System) by analyzing many different cases of heavy rain, analyze the errors of different weather radars and identify their problems, and investigate their applicability to nowcasting in case of severe weather.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.463-471
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• 2014

This paper considers the effect of rainfall on non-point source (NPS) pollutant loads. The impact of runoff on the occurrence of NPS pollutants was found to be influenced by rainfall amount, rainfall intensity, and the number of antecedent dry days (ADD), both independently and in combination. The close correlation ($R^2$ = 0.9920) between rainfall and runoff amounts was demonstrated at the study site (a flower farm) over the period between January 2011 and December 2013. The relationships among pollutant levels, runoff, and rainfall was not satisfactory results except for the Biochemical Oxygen Demand ($BOD_5$). The correlation coefficients between $BOD_5$, and both runoff and rainfall, were greater than 0.92. However, the relationships of other pollutants, such as Suspended Solid (SS), Chemical Oxygen Demand ($COD_{Mn}$), Total Nitrogen (TN), and Total Phosphorus (TP), with runoff and rainfall had correlation coefficients of less than 0.70. The roles of rainfall was different from rainfall categories on the occurrence of runoff. Instantaneous rainfall intensity was a principle factor on the occurrence of runoff following light rainfall events (total ${\leq}30mm$). For rainfall of intermediate intensity (total precipitation 31-50 mm), the combined effect of both average rainfall intensity and ADD was found to influence runoff generation. We conclude that the control of NPS pollutants with the reflection of the climate change that makes the remarkable effect of amounts and forms on the rainfall and runoff.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.09a
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• pp.736-744
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• 2009

The abrupt failure of slope caused by a concentrated rainfall would be a disaster in this country. Specially, the soil slope may be collapsed by the rainfall seepage, however, there is not much information for the mechanism of slope failure during rainfall. As analyzing the stability of slope by rainfall, the conventional method is to put the ground-water level on the surface of slope. However, it may provide the over-reinforcement for the slope stability. Futhermore, although over-reinforcement for the slope was fulfilled, the possibility of potential slope failure still exists. In this study, the slope stability by the conventional design method and the causes of unstable slope during rainfall were investigated. To analyze the slope stability by rainfall, the computer program SEEP/W for the analysis of seepage was used. As changing the intensity and duration of rainfall in SEEP/W, the analysis were performed. After completion of analysis, the porewater pressure data from SEEP/W was applied to SLOPE/W. As a results of this analysis, it is not reasonable that the groundwater level is going up to the surface of slope during rainfall. Therefore, the conventional reinforcement for the slope stability is not obvious to satisfy the criterion safety factor during rainfall. The reasonable counterplan is to install drainage hole on the surface of slope in order to prevent erosion and debris flow.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2007.09a
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• pp.481-501
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• 2007

Excessive rainfalls due to climatic changes can trigger an increase in rainfall-induced slope failures that pose real threats to both lives and properties. Many high slopes in residual soils could stand at a steep angle, but failed during or after rainfall. Commonly, these slopes have a deep groundwater table and negative pore-water pressures in the unsaturated zone above the groundwater table contribute to the shear strength of soil and consequently to factor of safety of the slope. Stability assessment of slope under rainfall requires information on rate of rainwater infiltration in the unsaturated zone and the resulting changes in pore-water pressure and shear strength of soil. This paper describes the application of unsaturated soil mechanics principles and theories in the assessment of rainfall effect on stability of slope through proper characterization of soil properties, measurement of negative pore-water pressures, seepage and slope stability analyses involving unsaturated and saturated soils. Factors controlling the rate of changes in factor of safety during rainfall and a preventive method to minimize infiltration are highlighted in this paper.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2014

Numerical stability analysis of an unsaturated infinite slope under rainfall-induced infiltration conditions was performed using generalized effective stress to unify both saturated and unsaturated conditions The soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) of sand with a relative density of 75% was initially measured for both drying and wetting processes. The hydraulic conductivity function (HCF) and suction stress characteristic curve (SSCC) were subsequently estimated. Under the rainfall-induced infiltration conditions, transient seepage analysis of an unsaturated infinite slope was performed using the finite element analysis program, SEEP/W. Based on these results, the stability of an unsaturated infinite slope under rainfall-induced infiltration conditions was examined in relation to suction stress. According to the results, the negative pore-water pressure and water content within the slope soil changed over time due to the infiltration. In addition, the variation of the negative pore-water pressure and water content led to a variation in suction stress and a subsequent change in the slope's factor of safety during the rainfall period.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1999.03a
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• pp.277-284
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• 1999

This study describes the influence factors related to slope failure pattern and dimension in the southern Kyounggi area. Intrusive and metamorphic rocks are distributed in the study area. Geological condition, rainfall property and slope geometry are influence on slope failure characteristics in the study we& Geological factors related to slope failure are rock type, geological structure and weathering condition. Because of deep soil (RS-CW) depth of granite region, circular failure type is major failure pattern in granite region. Almost granite slopes with circular or surface failure pattern are failed during heavy rainfall season. But typical wedge failure type related to geological structure factor is a main failure pattern of metamorphic rock slope. Additionally failure dimension is influenced by geological factors and several factors, i.e. natural slope condition, failure type, rainfall intensity and etc. failure height/width ratio and thickness/length ratio of granite slope are 0.88 and 0.23. But the ratios of metamorphic rock slope are 1.36 and 0.19.