• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.35-43
• /
• 2016

The time distribution of rainfall is one of the most important considerations for evaluating soil slope stability. In order to study the rainfall-induced slope failure, the rainfall pattern has generally been assumed as uniform rainfall intensity for rainfall duration. However, it should be noted that the time distribution of the design rainfall method has a significant effect on the soil slope instability. The study implemented Mononobe, Huff, and uniform method as three types of time distribution method of the design rainfall to estimate the factor of safety of soil slopes by rainfall duration. As a result, the difference of soil suction and unsaturated hydraulic properties in a soil by rainfall pattern was found through the application of an appropriate time distribution method to numerical simulation for rainfall-induced slope stability.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.135-147
• /
• 2013

Most of slope failures are triggered by heavy rainfall during rainy season. If the rain keeps on for the season, the water content of the ground increases and its matric suction decrease, and then the safety factor of soil slope gets lower. The change of water table level for soil slope stability dose not describe the behavior of the soil slope in real situation, hence it may be necessary to modify the design standard for slope stability in association with rain infiltration. For correct design, economical construction, and maintenance of a soil slope, unsaturated flow analysis is needed for estimation of slope instability regarding water infiltration and soil behavior on unsaturated soil slopes. The entire soil slope cannot be saturated by prolonged rainfall and wetting band depth (saturated zone) just deepens from slope surface, hence the cause of the shallow surface slide is the wetting band depth depending on rainfall duration and intensity. Therefore, the paper presents the differences between theoretical equation and numerical analysis for wetting band depth on soil surface and its safety factor, and compares the slope stability obtained from unsaturated flow analysis with that obtained from conventional slope stability analysis.

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

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.263-274
• /
• 2011

A reliability-based slope stability assessment method considering fluctuations in the monitored matric suction was proposed for real-time identification of slope risk. The assessment model was based on the limit equilibrium model for infinite slope failure. The first-order reliability method (FORM) was adopted to calculate the probability of slope failure, and results of the model were compared with Monte-Carlo Simulation (MCS) results to validate the accuracy and efficiency of the model. The analysis shows that a model based on Advanced First-Order Reliability Method (AFORM) generates results that are in relatively good agreement with those of the MCS, using a relatively small number of function calls. The contribution of random variables to the slope reliability index was also examined using sensitivity analysis. The results of sensitivity analysis indicate that the effective cohesion c' is a significant variable at low values of mean matric suction, whereas matric suction ($u_a-u_w$) is the most influential factor at high mean suction values. Finally, the reliability indices of an unsaturated model soil slope, which was monitored by a wireless matric suction measurement system, were illustrated as 2D images using the suggested probabilistic model.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.9-18
• /
• 2008

Shallow slope failures in residual soil during periods of prolonged infiltration are common in Korea. This study examines an infinite slope analysis to estimate the influence of infiltration on surficial stability of slopes by the limit equilibrium method. Approximate method which is based on the Green-Ampt model have been considered to evaluate the likelihood of shallow slope failure which is induced by a particular rainfall event that accounts for the rainfall intensity and duration for various return periods. Pradel & Raad method which is devised to predict the depth of wetting front to decomposed granite soil slopes having measured soil-water characteristic curves. To compare the results with those obtained from the Pradel & Raad method, a series of numerical analysis using SEEP/W were carried out. It was found that the stability analysis of unsaturated soils calculated by using the soil-water characteristic curve of decomposed granite soils was found to be a proper analysis for shallow slope failures due to rainfall.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.123-136
• /
• 2002

The infiltration of prolonged rainfall causes shallow slope failures on surficial slopes. Experiments performed on soil-water characteristic curves in weathered soils of three different types(SW, SP, SM) were used to construct a general equation for the soil-water characteristic curve. Based on this, the saturated depth by Green & Ampt model was compared with the results of numerical analyses and the range of application of Green & Ampt model was evaluated. It was found that the saturated depth occurred by infiltration on the surface of slopes has an inf1uence on the surficial stability of slopes md, the stability analysis of unsaturated soils calculated by using the soil-water characteristic curve of weathered soils was found to be a proper analysis for shallow slope failures due to rainfall.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2010.09a
• /
• pp.764-771
• /
• 2010

The stability analysis method of an unsaturated slope considering the suction stress was performed on the infinite sand slope. During drying and wetting processes, the Soil-Water Characteristics Curve (SWCC) of the sand with the relative density of 75% was measured using the automated SWCC apparatus. Also, the Suction Stress Characteristics Curve (SSCC) was estimated. Based on these results, the stability analysis of an unsaturated infinite slope was carried out considering the slope angle, the weathering zone and the relative change in friction angle as a soil depth. According to the result of slope stability analysis, the safety factors of slope were less than 1 when the slope angles were more than $50^{\circ}$. The safety factors of slope tend to increase with increasing the depth from the ground surface. Especially, the safety factors have a tendency to increase and decrease above near the ground water level due to the suction stress. The maximum safety factor of slope in this analysis was occurred at the Air Entry Value (AEV) of drying process. The influence range of suction stress above the ground water level can be found out and can be defined as the funicular zone which means the metric suction range from the air entry point to the point of residual volumetric water content.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2007.09a
• /
• pp.502-513
• /
• 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 the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.5-11
• /
• 2018

In conventional analytical solutions for rainfall-induced soil slope stability, the Green-Ampt (1911) equation for estimating the saturation depth and the Skempton & DeLory (1957) equation for calculating the infinite slope shallow failure were compared with the numerical analysis to confirm the error. In the simple evaluation of the reason of soil slope instability due to rainfall using the conventional equations, there are many errors and, overestimation or underestimation of the calculation results. In this study, the equation consisting of the results obtained from infiltration analysis on unsaturated soil slope is proposed by applying the average range of the strength parameters of the granite weathered soils, and its reliability is verified by comparing with the numerical analysis results. The developed equation can be used easily in various fields for the estimation of slope safety factor by checking the rainfall duration and saturation depth.

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