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Analysis of rainfall-induced infinite slope failure during typhoon using a hydrological–geotechnical model

  • Original Article
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Environmental Geology

An Erratum to this article was published on 20 March 2008

Abstract

Rainwater infiltration during typhoons tends to trigger slope instability. This paper presents the results of a study on slope response to rainwater infiltration during heavy rainfall in a mountain area of Taiwan. The Green-Ampt infiltration model is adopted here to study the behavior of rainwater infiltration on slopes. The failure mechanism of infinite slope is chosen to represent the rainfall-induced shallow slope failure. By combining rain infiltration model and infinite slope analysis, the proposed model can estimate the occurrence time of a slope failure. In general, if a slope failure is to happen on a slope covered with low permeability soil, failure tends to happen after the occurrence of the maximum rainfall intensity. In contrast, slope failure tends to occur prior to the occurrence of maximum rainfall intensity if a slope is covered with high-permeability soil. To predict the potential and timing of a landslide, a method is proposed here based on the normalized rainfall intensity (NRI) and normalized accumulated rainfall (NAR). If the actual NAR is higher than the NAR calculated by the proposed method, slope failure is very likely to happen. Otherwise, the slope is unlikely to fail. The applicability of the proposed model to occurrence time and the NAR–NRI relationship is evaluated using landslide cases obtained from the literature. The results of the proposed method are close to that of the selected cases. It verifies the applicability of the proposed method to slopes in different areas of the world.

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Abbreviations

c′:

effective soil cohesion (kPa)

F(t):

cumulative infiltration at time t (mm)

f(t):

infiltration rate at time t (mm/h)

F′(t):

tentative cumulative infiltration at time t (mm)

f′(t):

tentative infiltration rate at time t (mm/h)

I(t):

rainfall intensity at time t (mm/h)

k :

coefficient of hydraulic conductivity (mm/h)

k sat :

coefficient of saturated hydraulic conductivity (mm/h)

NAR:

normalized accumulated rainfall (mm−1h)

NRI:

normalized rainfall intensity (mm−1)

R(t) :

accumulated rainfall at time t (mm)

t :

elapsed time (h)

T f :

critical time of failure (h)

T p :

time at maximum rainfall intensity (h)

t p :

ponding time (h)

u a :

pore air pressure (kPa)

u w :

pore water pressure (kPa)

z w :

depth of wetting front (mm)

Δt :

time interval (h)

ΔT :

time interval of rolling rainfall (h)

Δθ :

deficit of the volumetric moisture content (mm3mm−3)

β :

topographical slope angle

ϕ′:

effective friction angle

ϕ b :

friction angle linked to matric suction, u a−u w

γ t :

unit weight of soil (kNm−3)

γ w :

unit weight of water=9.81kNm−3

η :

the soil porosity

θ :

volumetric moisture content (mm3mm−3)

θ e :

effective porosity

θ i :

initial moisture content

θ s :

volumetric moisture content at saturation

σ n :

normal stress (kPa)

τ n :

shear stress parallel to failure plane (kPa)

ψ f :

suction head at wetting front (L)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, D.I. Yogyakarta, Indonesia

    Agus Setyo Muntohar

  2. Department of Construction Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan

    Hung-Jiun Liao

  3. No. 43, Section 4, Keelung Road, Taipei, 10699, Taiwan

    Hung-Jiun Liao

Authors
  1. Agus Setyo Muntohar
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  2. Hung-Jiun Liao
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Correspondence to Hung-Jiun Liao.

Additional information

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1285-1

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Muntohar, A.S., Liao, HJ. Analysis of rainfall-induced infinite slope failure during typhoon using a hydrological–geotechnical model. Environ Geol 56, 1145–1159 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1215-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1215-2

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