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Combined influence of rainfall and groundwater on the stability of an inner dump slope

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Abstract

Landslide is a commonly encountered natural disaster worldwide. Among the various influential factors, water is one of the major factors that can induce slope instability. The dynamic changes of rainfall and groundwater cause water migration inside the slope, which complicates the stress state inside the slope. This work aims at investigating the landslide problems that are induced by the combined action of rainfall infiltration and groundwater. The interaction mechanisms between the dynamic changes of rainfall, groundwater and the mechanical properties of the inner dump slope remain unclear, which make it very challenging to prevent landslide disaster in the open-pit coal-mine. To bridge this gap, we establish a theoretical model for the inner dump slope and experiment the impacts of various factors involved in the combination of rainfall and groundwater on the slope instability. An analytical solution of the safety factor (FoS) is then developed for inner dump slopes. The final slope safety factor is the minimum value of FoS in different layers. In the developed solution, the saturation theory and unsaturated theory are integrated on the slope mechanical model. The sensitivity study of FoS to the dynamic changes of groundwater, rainfall, and other potential primary factors inducing slope instability indicates that, there exists a critical wetting front and a critical groundwater depth, where the primary factors affecting slope safety changes. The critical wetting front depth (hfo) and the critical groundwater depth (hwo) can been obtained when the safety factor in the wetting frontis equal to the safety factor of the basement surface induced by groundwater (Fsf = Fsj). The natural layer depth (hd = 15 m) is the critical turning point where the primary factor inducing slope instability changes from rainfall to groundwater for λ = 0.5 and hw = 5 m. The reliability and accuracy of the theoretical solutions are validated with a case study in Shengli #1 open-pit mine.

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Abbreviations

\(\gamma_{{\text{d}}}\) :

Unit weight of soil in natural layer (kN/m3)

\(c^{^{\prime}}\) :

Effective cohesion of the slope soil (kPa)

\(\gamma_{{\text{w}}}\) :

Unit weight of water (kN/m3)

\(\alpha\) :

Slope angle (°)

\(\varphi^{{\text{b}}}\) :

Change of internal friction angle of wetting front (°)

\(W_{{\text{j}}}\) :

Slider gravity above basement (kN)

\(W_{{\text{s}}}\) :

Slider gravities above rainfall saturated layer (kN)

\(W_{{\text{f}}}\) :

Slider gravities above wetting front (kN)

\(N_{{\text{s}}}\) :

Slider normal force above rainfall saturated layer (kN)

\(\sigma_{{{\text{nj}}}}\) :

Normal stress above basement surface (kPa)

\(J_{{\text{s}}}\) :

Seepage force of rainfall saturated layer (kN)

\(F_{{{\text{ss}}}}\) :

Safety factor of saturated surface of rainfall (1)

\(F_{{{\text{so}}}}\) :

Critical safety factor of slope (1)

\(h_{{\text{s}}}\) :

Saturation layer depth of rainfall (m)

\(h_{{\text{f}}}\) :

Wetting front depth (m)

\(h_{{\text{w}}}\) :

Groundwater depth (m)

\(\theta_{{0}}\) :

Initial water content (1)

\(\gamma_{{\text{t}}}\) :

Unit weight of soil in transitional layer (kN/m3)

\(\varphi^{^{\prime}}\) :

Effective internal friction angle of the slope soil (°)

\(\gamma^{^{\prime}}\) :

Unit buoyant weight of soil (kN/m3)

\(l\) :

Tilt length of slider (m)

\(\sigma_{{{\text{ns}}}}\) :

Normal stress of rainfall saturated layer (kPa)

\(\tau_{{{\text{ms}}}}\) :

Shear stress of rainfall saturated layer (kPa)

\(F_{{{\text{sj}}}}\) :

Safety factor of basement surface (Fsj)

\(N_{{\text{j}}}\) :

Slider normal force above basement (kN)

\(N_{{\text{f}}}\) :

Slider normal force above wetting front (kN)

\(\tau_{{{\text{mj}}}}\) :

Shear force above basement surface (kPa)

\(J_{{\text{w}}}\) :

Seepage force of groundwater layer (kN)

\(F_{{{\text{sf}}}}\) :

Safety factor of wetting front (1)

\(F_{{\text{s}}}\) :

Safety factor of slope (1)

\(h_{{\text{t}}}\) :

Transitional layer depth of rainfall (m)

\(h_{{\text{d}}}\) :

Natural layer depth (m)

\(\theta_{{\text{s}}}\) :

Saturated water content (1)

\(\theta_{{\text{r}}}\) :

Residual water content (1)

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Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely thank the following agents for their financial supports: National Natural Science Foundation of China (42172319) and Scientific and Technological Project of Henan Province (222102320060).

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China, 42172319, Bo Liu, Scientific and Technological Project of Henan Province, 222102320060, Zhiliu Wang.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhongyuan University of Technology, Zhengzhou, 450007, China

    Zhiliu Wang

  2. School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, 100083, China

    Bo Liu

  3. State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, Beijing, 100083, China

    Bo Liu

  4. Aramco Americas: Aramco Research Center, Houston, TX, 77084, USA

    Yanhui Han

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  1. Zhiliu Wang
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  2. Bo Liu
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  3. Yanhui Han
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Correspondence to Bo Liu.

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Cite this article

Wang, Z., Liu, B. & Han, Y. Combined influence of rainfall and groundwater on the stability of an inner dump slope. Nat Hazards 118, 1961–1988 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-023-06052-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-023-06052-4

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