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In situ triaxial creep test for investigating deformational properties of gravelly sliding zone soil: example of the Huangtupo 1# landslide, China

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Abstract

In recent years, numerous landslide catastrophes have occurred, generating considerable financial losses and other tolls. The deformational and mechanical properties of sliding zone soil would be in primary significance to landslide research, as the sliding zone basically controls the initiation and mobility of the landslide. An in situ triaxial test was carried out on a sample from the sliding zone of the Huangtupo 1# landslide, a subdivision of the Huangtupo landslide in the Three Gorges area of China. The test results indicate that (a) the sliding zone exhibits low compressibility due to the high rock content (54.3%) and long-time consolidation by the overlying soil mass; (b) only decaying creep occurs without abrupt failure, and a constitutive equation with both linear and nonlinear viscoplastic terms is deduced to accurately fit the test data; (c) the surface with an orientation of 35° presents anisotropic traits in terms of displacement, possibly due to cracks that formed at similar orientations within the sample cube; and (d) the creep behavior of the landslide may be closely related to the properties of the sliding zone soil. When a similar stress magnitude to that of the in situ stress environment is applied to the sample, the sliding zone soil behavior matches the landslide deformative behavior. The test results indicate that the Huangtupo 1# landslide will continue to creep, as interpreted from the deformation traits and structural properties of the sample. However, unavoidable limitations of the test and extreme external factors, namely unexpected rainfall and water fluctuation, cannot be ignored.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to appreciate Prof. Koyji Sassa, secretary general of the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL), for his helpful suggestions.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (grant number 2017YFC1501305), Key National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 41230637), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 41502290 and 41702319).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China

    Qinwen Tan, Huiming Tang, Zhiqiang Fan, Meng Zhao, Chun Li & Dingjian Wang

  2. Three Gorges Research Center for Geo-hazards of Ministry of Education, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China

    Huiming Tang, Chengren Xiong & Zongxing Zou

  3. Key Laboratory of Geotechnical Mechanics and Engineering of the Ministry of Water Resources, Yangtze River Scientific Research Institute, Wuhan, 430019, Hubei, China

    Lei Fan

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  1. Qinwen Tan
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  2. Huiming Tang
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  3. Lei Fan
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  4. Chengren Xiong
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  5. Zhiqiang Fan
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  6. Meng Zhao
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  7. Chun Li
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  8. Dingjian Wang
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  9. Zongxing Zou
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Correspondence to Huiming Tang.

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Tan, Q., Tang, H., Fan, L. et al. In situ triaxial creep test for investigating deformational properties of gravelly sliding zone soil: example of the Huangtupo 1# landslide, China. Landslides 15, 2499–2508 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-018-1062-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-018-1062-5

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