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The failure mode of transmission tower foundation on the landslide under heavy rainfall: a case study on a 500-kV transmission tower foundation on the Yanzi landslide in Badong, China

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Abstract

Due to topographical restrictions, transmission towers will inevitably be erected in areas prone to frequent geological disasters such as steep slope failure. Taking the Yanzi tower foundation landslide as the research object, the failure process of the tower foundation in a landslide and the corresponding failure mode under rainfall were studied through physical model testing and numerical theoretical analysis. Firstly, the planned design and testing process of the physical model test of the tower foundation landslide under rainfall were introduced. Secondly, the failure process of the tower foundation at different positions of landslide under rainfall was revealed. Then, the failure mode of the tower foundation landslide under rainfall was proposed. Finally, the failure mode of the tower foundation under rainfall was determined. According to the observed displacement of the tower foundation during a landslide in the model test, the instability of the toe of the landslide caused by scouring caused traction damage to the landslide. The tower foundations on the landslide and outside the trailing edge of the landslide became unstable and collapsed along with the landslide, while the tower foundation below the landslide remained stable. During the deformation stage of the landslide, there was no shear failure and no tipping damage to the tower foundation. If the potential landslide on which the tower foundation is located is unstable under heavy rainfall, the tower foundation may slide along with the potential landslide passing through the bottom of the tower foundation, which is consistent with the result of physical testing.

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Acknowledgements

A special acknowledgement should be expressed to the China-Pakistan Joint Research Center on Earth Sciences, which supported the implementation of this study.

Funding

The work reported in this paper is financially supported by the National Key R&D Programme of China (2018YFC0809400), the International Partnership Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. 131551KYSB20180042), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51779250).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China

    Yongqiang Zhou, Qian Sheng, Jian Chen & Xiaodong Fu

  2. School of Engineering Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Qian Sheng & Jian Chen

  3. China-Pakistan Joint Research Center On Earth Sciences, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Jian Chen

  4. Wuhan Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China

    Nana Li

  5. State Grid Hubei Electric Power Company Limited Economic Research Institute, Wuhan, China

    Yingbo Zhou

Authors
  1. Yongqiang Zhou
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  2. Qian Sheng
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  3. Jian Chen
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  4. Nana Li
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  5. Xiaodong Fu
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Correspondence to Xiaodong Fu.

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Zhou, Y., Sheng, Q., Chen, J. et al. The failure mode of transmission tower foundation on the landslide under heavy rainfall: a case study on a 500-kV transmission tower foundation on the Yanzi landslide in Badong, China. Bull Eng Geol Environ 81, 125 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-022-02628-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-022-02628-9

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