• 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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• 2010.09a
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• pp.71-78
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• 2010

The stability analysis of unsaturated infinite slope under rainfall-induced infiltration condition was performed using the generalized effective stress that unifies both saturated and unsaturated condition recently proposed by Lu and Likos(2004, 2006). The Soil-Water Characteristic Curve (SWCC) of the sand with the relative density of 75% was first measured for both drying and wetting processes. The Hydraulic Conductivity Function (HCF) and Suction Stress Characteristic Curve (SSCC) were subsequently estimated. Also, under the rainfall-induced infiltration condition transient seepage analysis of unsaturated infinite slope was performed using the finite element program, SEEP/W. Based on these results, the stability of unsaturated infinite slope under rainfall-induced infiltration condition was examined considering the suction stress. According to the results, the negative pore water pressure and water content within the soil changed with time due to the infiltration. Also, the variation of those caused the variation of suction stress and then the factor of safety of slope changed consequently during the rainfall period.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 2007

In Korea, most landslides occurr during the rainy season and have shallow failure planes parallel to the slope. For these types of rainfall-induced failures, the most important factor triggering slope unstability is decrease in the matric suction of unsaturated soils with increasing saturation depth by rainfall infiltration. For this reason, estimation of cumulative infiltration has a significance. In this study, infiltration rate and cumulative infiltration are estimated by using both Mein & Larson model based on Green-Ampt infiltration model and using modified Mein & Larson model to which unsteady rainfall is applied. According to the results, the modified model is more reasonable than Mein & Larson method itself in estimation of infiltration rate and saturation depth because of considering real pending condition.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.375-380
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• 2005

In Korea, most landslides are occurred during the rainy season from June to September and have a shallow failure plane parallel to the slope. For these types of rainfall-induced failures, the most important factors triggering slope unstability is not the increase of pore water pressure but the decrease of the matric suction of unsaturated soils by rainfall infiltration. So it is essential to landslide hazard assessment that defines the characteristics of infiltration in natural slopes. In this study, field measurements have been carried out in order to monitor in-situ volumetric water contents and ground water table, at several depths and locations on a natural slope. The results show that rainfall infiltration is correlated with antecedent water contents, rainfall intensity and total rainfall. The ground water table was varied sensitively by every rainfall event.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.353-370
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• 2017

This paper presents a case study and numerical investigation to study the hydro-mechanical response of a shallow landslide in unsaturated slopes subjected to rainfall infiltration using a coupled model. The coupled model was interpreted in details by expressing the balance equations for soil mixture and the coupled constitutive equations. The coupled model was verified against experimental data from the shearing-infiltration triaxial tests. A real case of shallow landslide occurred on Mt. Umyeonsan, Seoul, Korea was employed to explore the influence of rainfall infiltration on the slope stability during heavy rainfall. Numerical results showed that the coupled model accurately predicted the poromechanical behavior of a rainfall-induced landslide by simultaneously linking seepage and stress-strain problems. It was also found that the coupled model properly described progress failure of a slope in a highly transient condition. Through the comparisons between the coupled and uncoupled models, the coupled model provided more realistic analysis results under rainfall. Consequently, the coupled model was found to be feasible for the stability and seepage analysis of practical engineering problems.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2006.03a
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• pp.28-33
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• 2006

Shallow failures of slopes in weathered soils are caused by infiltration due to prolonged rainfall. These failures are mainly triggered by the deepening of the wetting band accompanied by a decrease in suction induced by the water infiltration. In this paper, hysteresis on soil-water characteristic curve(SWCC) of granite and gneiss weathered soils are investigated using transient flow analysis respectively. Each case was subjected to artificial rainfall intensities and time duration depending on the laboratory-based drying and wetting processes. The results show that the unsaturated seepage on weathered slopes are very much affected by the initial suction of soils and unsaturated permeability of the soils. In addition, a granite weathered soil has a lower air-entry value, residual matric suction, and wetting front suction and less hysteresis loop than a gneiss weathered soil.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2007.09a
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• pp.502-513
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• 2007

This paper describes the rainfall-induced slope failures caused by infiltration due to prolonged rainfall. The emphasis was on quantifying the effect of fine-grained contents which are influencing on the infiltration rate in the wetting front of initially unsaturated slopes during rainfall. Suction tests by tensiometer were performed for five mixture specimens with varying fine-grained contents and then, numerical analyses for the stability of unsaturated slopes are carried out for different relative densities and mixture portions based on the soil water characteristic curves obtained by GCTS pressure plate. It is shown that the fines are highly influenced on wetting front suction of unsaturated soil slopes. Based on the results, it is found that until 15% fine content is the limit showing different wetting front suction, beyond which the wetting band depth do not affect considerably the stability of unsaturated slopes.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.107-117
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• 2008

Infiltration facilities are effective instruments to mitigate flood and can increase base runoff in urban watersheds. In order to analyze effects of infiltration trenches physical model experiments were conducted. The physical model facility consists of two soil tanks, artificial rainfall generators, tensiometers, and piezometers. The experiment was conducted by nine times and each case differed in rainfall intensity, rainfall duration and the type of ground surface. Measured quantities in the experiments are as follows: surface runoff, subsurface runoff, trench pipe runoff, groundwater level, water content, etc. The following resulted from the model experiment: The volume of subsurface runoff at trench watershed was maximum 78.3% compared with rainfall. This value is bigger than that of ordinary rate of subsurface runoff, and shows a groundwater recharge effect of trench. The time of runoff passing through the trench became earlier and the volume of runoff became larger with the increase of inflow into the trench, while trench exfiltration into ground became relatively smaller. The results of this study presented above show that infiltration trenches are effective instruments to increase base runoff during dry periods.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.129-139
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• 2012

Accurate modeling rainfall induced landslide and slope stability requires a detailed knowledge of the distribution of material strength characteristics and suction distribution. However, material properties obtained from the drying cycle are still used for infiltration analysis in many cases, even though material properties of wetting cycle are quite different from those of drying cycle due to hydraulic hysteresis and air occlusion. Therefore, the selection of proper material properties such as soil-water retention curve (SWRC) and the hydraulic conductivity function (HCF) reflecting characteristics of wetting cycle and air occlusion is an essential prerequisite in order to simulate the infiltration phenomena and to predict the suction and water content distribution in unsaturated soils. It is concluded that the simulation of infiltration with material properties from the drying cycle did not reasonably match with experimental outputs. Further discussion is made on how to describe the material properties considering air occlusion during wetting cycle over the entire suction range in order to simulate infiltration phenomena.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.5-18
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• 2014

Many regions around the world are vulnerable to rainfall-induced slope failures. A variety of methods have been proposed for revealing the mechanism of slope failure initiation. Current analysis methods, however, do not consider the effects of non-homogeneous soil profiles and variable hydraulic responses on rainfall-induced slope failures. In this study, probabilistic stability analyses were conducted for weathered residual soil slopes with different soil thickness overlying impermeable bedrock to study the rainfall-induced failure mechanisms depending on the soil thickness. A series of seepage and stability analyses of an infinite slope based on one-dimensional random fields were performed to consider the effects of uncertainty due to the spatial heterogeneity of hydraulic conductivity on the failure of unsaturated slopes due to rainfall infiltration. The results showed that a probabilistic framework can be used to efficiently consider various failure patterns caused by spatial variability of hydraulic conductivity in rainfall infiltration assessment for a infinite slope.