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Slope stability analysis using a physically based model: a case study from A Luoi district in Thua Thien-Hue Province, Vietnam

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Abstract

A case study of slope stability mapping is presented for the A Luoi district situated in the mountainous western part of Thua Thien-Hue Province in Central Vietnam, where slope failures occur frequently and seriously affect local living conditions. The methodology is based on the infinite slope stability model, which calculates a safety factor as the ratio between shear strength and shear stress. The triggering mechanism for slope instability considered in the analysis is the maximum daily precipitation recorded in a 28-year period (1976–2003) taking into account runoff and infiltration predicted with a hydrological model. All necessary physical parameters are derived from topography, soil texture, and land use, in GIS-raster grid format with pixel size of 30 by 30 m. Results of the analysis are compared with a slope failure inventory map of 2001, showing that more than 86.9 % of the existing slope failures are well predicted by the physically based slope stability model. It can be concluded that the larger part of the study area is prone to landsliding. The resulting slope stability map is useful for further research and land-use planning, but for precise prediction of future slope failures, more effort is needed with respect to spatial variation of causative factors and analysis techniques.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions, which enabled to improve the quality of the paper.

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  1. Department of Hydrology and Hydraulic Engineering, Vrije Universteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

    Long Nguyen Thanh & Florimond De Smedt

  2. Remote Sensing and Geomatics Department, Vietnam Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Long Nguyen Thanh

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  1. Long Nguyen Thanh
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Correspondence to Florimond De Smedt.

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Thanh, L.N., De Smedt, F. Slope stability analysis using a physically based model: a case study from A Luoi district in Thua Thien-Hue Province, Vietnam. Landslides 11, 897–907 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-013-0437-x

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