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Monitored and simulated variations in matric suction during rainfall in a residual soil slope

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

This research combines field, laboratory and numerical investigations to estimate the development of a wetting front within a 1.2 m residual soil mantle on a steep forested slope during rainfall events. The field-monitored variations in matric suction due to rain-water infiltration during various events revealed that the maximum infiltration rate was much higher when the wetting front resided in the upper 20 cm of soil compared to the case when the wetting front advanced to depths > 20 cm. Laboratory investigations on soil hydraulic properties (i.e., soil water characteristic curve, and hydraulic conductivity) were useful to establish the parameters of a multilayer finite-element model for one-dimensional vertical infiltration. These parameters were subsequently calibrated by matching the predicted and field measured transient pore water pressure responses during actual rainstorms with irregular rainfall patterns. The calibrated simulation model was used to assess the migration of the wetting front under uniform rainfall with different intensities. Based on the numerical results, a hyperbolic equation was developed to predict the duration of uniform rainfall required for the propagation of wetting front to a certain depth for a given rainfall intensity. The proposed equation was subsequently tested against field-monitored advancements of the wetting front during real rainstorms with variable rainfall intensity.

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Acknowledgments

The present work was supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research No. P04298 offered by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan. The first author gratefully acknowledges the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. Additional funding for this research was provided through a JSPS grant (#16380102) to the second author and from Japan Science and Technology Agency, CREST project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, 135 South 1460 East Rm 717, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112-0111, USA

    Aurelian C. Trandafir

  2. Slope Conservation Section, Geohazards Division, Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, 611-0011, Kyoto, Japan

    Roy C. Sidle

  3. Japan Science and Technology Agency, Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, 611-0011, Kyoto, Japan

    Takashi Gomi

  4. Research Centre on Landslides, Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, 611-0011, Kyoto, Japan

    Toshitaka Kamai

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  1. Aurelian C. Trandafir
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  2. Roy C. Sidle
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  3. Takashi Gomi
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  4. Toshitaka Kamai
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Correspondence to Aurelian C. Trandafir.

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Trandafir, A.C., Sidle, R.C., Gomi, T. et al. Monitored and simulated variations in matric suction during rainfall in a residual soil slope. Environ Geol 55, 951–961 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-1045-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-1045-7

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