Abstract
Cyclic diurnal and annual temperature variations acting upon rocks are rarely considered among triggers of slope movements. The importance of temperature change is viewed mainly as a precursor of failures, where the triggers are rainfall or seismic activity. This paper aims to determine the limit conditions in which plastic deformation develops in a situation where one or more blocks fallen into an open crack create a wedge, causing non-elastic displacement of a block resting on an inclined plane. A physical model was prepared to study this phenomenon in a thermal dilatometer, in which the displacements were measured using linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) sensors for blocks with different block/wedge ratios, while temperature was varied in a controlled manner. Nine physical models of sandstone blocks were tested over a cyclic temperature change of ΔT = 35 °C while measuring the permanent displacements of a block in order to confirm the existence of this type of failure mechanism. Further, a series of cyclic tests were performed on all nine physical models to determine the threshold temperature change at which plastic deformation occurs for different block/wedge ratios. Results showed plastic deformation resulting from a cyclic wedging mechanism for a block/wedge ratio 0.5 and total model size of 50 mm, reaching a permanent displacement of 4.23 × 10−3 mm for a block resting on an inclined plane with a slope of 7°. For these conditions, a temperature change which caused permanent block displacement by thermal wedging was as low as 6 °C. The results of the physical model are in agreement with a proposed analytical solution by Pasten (2013) and measurements of Bakun-Mazor et al. (2013) at a site at Masada, Israel.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bakun-Mazor D, Hatzor YH, Glaser SD, Santamarina JC (2013) Thermally vs. seismically induced block displacements in Masada rock slopes. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 61:196–211
Brcek M (2010) Vplyv teplotných cyklov na zvetrávanie hornín. Ph.D. thesis, Prírodovedecká fakulta Univerzity Komenského v Bratislave, Bratislava, 127 p (in Slovak)
Brcek M, Varilova Z, Greif V, Vlcko J (2010) Stanovenie teplotného poľa pieskovcového masívu Pravčickej brány (ČR) na základe zhodnotenia denných a ročných teplotných cyklov. Mineralia Slovaca 42(2):205–216 (in Slovak)
Davison CH (1888) Note on the movement of screen-material. Q J Geol Soc Lond 44(1–4):232–238
Gischig V, Moore J, Evans K, Amann F, Loew S (2011a) Thermomechanical forcing of deep rock slope deformation. 1. Conceptual study of a simplified slope. J Geophys Res 116(F4), F04010
Gischig V, Moore J, Evans K, Amann F, Loew S (2011b) Thermomechanical forcing of deep rock slope deformation. 2. The Randa rock slope instability. J Geophys Res 116(F4), F04011
Gunzburger Y, Merrien-Soukatchoff V, Senfaute G, Piguet JP (2005) Influence of daily surface temperature fluctuations on rock slope stability: case study of the Rochers de Valabres slope (France). Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 42(3):331–349
Jezný M, Vlcko J, Hvozdara M (2007) Teplota ako faktor štruktúrneho oslabenia horninových masívov. Geotechnika 10(3):8–15 (in Slovak)
Mufundirwa A, Fujii Y, Kodama N, Kodama J (2011) Analysis of natural rock slope deformations under temperature variation: a case from a cool temperate region in Japan. Cold Reg Sci Technol 65:488–500
Pasten C (2013) Geomaterials subjected to repetitive loading: implications on energy systems. Ph.D. thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Redlich K, Terzaghi K, Kampe R (1929) Ingenieurgeologie. Springer, Wien, p 708
Vargas JE, Velloso R, Chávez L, Gusmão L, Amaral C (2013) On the effect of thermally induced stresses in failures of some rock slopes in Rio de Janeiro Brazil. Rock Mech Rock Eng 46:123–134
Vlcko J, Greif V, Grof V, Jezny M, Petro L, Brcek M (2009) Rock displacement and thermal expansion study at historic heritage sites in Slovakia. Environ Geol 58(8):1727–1740
Vlcko J, Jezny M, Pagacova Z (2005) Influence of thermal expansion on slope displacements. In: Sassa K, Fukuoka H, Wang F, Wang G (eds) Landslides: risk analysis and sustainable disaster management, Proceedings of the first general assembly of the international consortium on landslides. Springer, Washington, DC, pp 1–74
Watson AD, Moore DP, Stewart TW (2004) Temperature influence on rock slope movements at checkerboard creek. In: Lacerda W, Ehrlich M, Fontoura S, Amaral CP (eds) International symposium on landslides (ISL), Rio de Janeir, pp 1293–1298
Záruba Q (1932) O stabilite svahů nad povltavskou silnicí u Štěchovic a Vraného. Časopis československých inženýrů Technický obzor (16) (in Czech)
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract No. APVV-0641-10, Study of rocks properties and investigation of structural and textural characteristic in correlation with thermophysical and physico-mechanical properties, further under contract No. APVV −0330–10 Development of Remote System of Stability Monitoring of High Voltage Pylons Located in Landslide Risk Areas and APVV SK-CN-0017-12 Landslide hazard and risk assessment for UNESCO World Heritage Site, Danxia, China.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Greif, V., Simkova, I., Vlcko, J. (2014).
Physical Model of the Mechanism for Thermal Wedging Failure in Rocks.
In: Sassa, K., Canuti, P., Yin, Y. (eds) Landslide Science for a Safer Geoenvironment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05050-8_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05050-8_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-05049-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-05050-8
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)