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Assessment of critical rainfall scenarios for slope stability analyses based on historical rainfall records in Singapore

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Abstract

Rainfall-induced slope failure occurs in many countries including Singapore where slopes are mostly covered with residual soils. Although the significance and impact of rainfall infiltration in inducing slope failures are widely investigated, there have been diverse conclusions regarding the relative roles between soil and rainfall to slope failures under various environmental conditions. In this study, parametric studies were carried out for seven rainfall scenarios and two soils to explore the critical rainfall scenarios affecting the slope stability in Singapore. Special attention was given to the analyses of intensity and duration of the rainfall based on historical rainfall data during the period of 1982–2017 in Singapore. A transient seepage analysis was conducted, and the computed pore-water pressures were used in stability analyses to calculate the variation of factor of safety of the slope during rainfall. The results indicated that the slope with low permeability soil is mainly affected by the 5-day rainfall scenario, while the slope with high permeability soil is mainly affected by the maximum daily rainfall scenario in Singapore. Three case studies clearly validated the findings of this study.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the funding support from Building Construction Authority and the sharing of the data from Singapore Land Authority, who are the collaborators of the project on The Development of Slope Management and Susceptibility Geographical Information System.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Harianto Rahardjo & Eng-Choon Leong

  2. Special Functions Group, Enforcement & Structural Inspection Department, Building and Construction Authority, Singapore, Singapore

    Aaron Wai Lun Sham

  3. School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Singapore, Singapore

    Yongmin Kim

  4. Department of Hydrogeology, Earthresearch Company, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

    Margarit Mircea Nistor

  5. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan, 010000, Kazakhstan

    Alfrendo Satyanaga

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  1. Yongmin Kim
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  2. Harianto Rahardjo
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  3. Margarit Mircea Nistor
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  4. Alfrendo Satyanaga
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  5. Eng-Choon Leong
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  6. Aaron Wai Lun Sham
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Correspondence to Harianto Rahardjo.

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Kim, Y., Rahardjo, H., Nistor, M.M. et al. Assessment of critical rainfall scenarios for slope stability analyses based on historical rainfall records in Singapore. Environ Earth Sci 81, 39 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-10160-4

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