Evaluation of unsaturated slope stability under rainfall infiltration based on experimental and numerical modeling
Evaluation of unsaturated slope stability under rainfall infiltration based on experimental and numerical modeling
The presented paper contributes to the definition of the hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils while evaluating the problem of rainfall-induced slope instabilities. The slope instabilities in the Western Balkan countries have significantly increased in the past couple of years, due to climate change effects and its influence on the slope stability. Besides the arid climate, the increased manifestations of intense rainfalls often equal to monthly precipitation are the main contributing factors. Therefore, in North Macedonia, an assessment study has been initiated to re-evaluate the safety and define the risk level of the engineered slopes. To define the slope stability of such a system, the phenomenon of soil- atmosphere interaction is necessary to be analyzed. The slope stability will be governed by a coupled system's thermal, hydro, and mechanical conditions. Moreover, the vegetation as a factor that has additional effects on rainfall infiltration water and evapotranspiration is not considered in this study. The paper presents an analysis of an ideal slope example subjected to intense rainfall, for which both physical and numerical models were employed. The aim was to assess the impact of infiltrated water on moisture and suction as the main factors that lead to instability. The sandy soil slope with an angle of 51 degrees is subjected to a rainfall intensity of 30mm/h until the failure occurs. The comparison of the experimental and numerical results has shown very good agreement. In conclusion, the results have shown that intensive rainfalls might have a significant impact on the surface layers of the slopes causing serious erosion and local instability which after a prolonged duration is transformed into a global slope failure mechanism.
J. Josifovski; Bojan Susinov
18th European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ECSMGE2024)
C - Risk analysis and safety evaluation
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