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A FEM-MPM hybrid coupled framework based on local shear strength method for simulating rainfall/runoff-induced landslide runout

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Abstract

Limited by the independence and its defects of each general software package, simultaneous analysis of runoff, seepage, and large-deformation analysis is still an inevitable challenge. Generally, one of seepage, landslide-related large-deformation, and runoff is ignored or indirectly assessed during unsaturated soil landslide runout simulation. To provide a brand new solution, this paper declares a local shear strength (LSS) method to evaluate rainfall/runoff-induced reduction of the unsaturated soil shear strength. After that, a hybrid coupled hydro-mechanical framework is proposed to simulate rainfall/runoff-induced landslide runout within an unsaturated soil slope. The decrease in local shear strength corresponding to the decrease in matric suction is defined by shifting the Mohr–Coulomb (M-C) failure envelope towards compressive stress space during rainfall/runoff infiltration. Based on the proposed local shear strength method, the variable matric suction obtained from the bidirectionally coupled runoff and seepage analysis in FEM is unidirectionally transferred to the variable local shear strength for each soil material point in MPM (i.e., this is a FEM-MPM hybrid coupled model). Then, the correctness of the proposed hybrid coupled hydro-mechanical framework is effectively verified by a hypothetical homogeneous slope model. The results show that the slope stable/unstable state simulated by the proposed hybrid coupled hydro-mechanical framework has a good consistency with that simulated by the shear strength reduction technique (SSRT) and limit-equilibrium method (LEM). Afterward, combined with a case study of a natural landslide in Hokkaido, Japan, it is proved to be effective for simulating landslide runout subjected to rainfall/runoff infiltration by using the proposed hybrid coupled hydro-mechanical framework in an unsaturated soil slope.

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adapted from Sun et al. (2015))

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Data availability

Weather station data used in this research can be downloaded from Japan Meteorological Agency (http://www.data.jma.go.jp/gmd/risk/obsdl/index.php), and terrain information can be got from Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (https://www.gsi.go.jp/top.html).

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Acknowledgements

The authors give sincere thanks to Prof. Zhang Xiong at Tsinghua University for the open source MPM3D code. Since the main works of this study were finished at Hokkaido University, the authors gratefully acknowledge the support of Hokkaido University and the Hokkaido Government.

Funding

This research was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) (16H02360) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI. This research is also supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2021MS043).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Changping Beinong 2#, Beijing, China

    Yulong Zhu

  2. Laboratory of Analytical Geomechanics, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13, Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-8628, Japan

    Tatsuya Ishikawa

  3. School of Engineering, The Open University of China, Haidian Wukesong, Beijing, China

    Yafen Zhang

  4. Research and Development Center, Nippon Koei Co., Ltd, 2304 Inarihara, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Binh T. Nguyen

  5. Centre of Excellence in Disaster Mitigation and Management, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, Uttarakhand , 247667, India

    Srikrishnan Siva Subramanian

Authors
  1. Yulong Zhu
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  2. Tatsuya Ishikawa
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  3. Yafen Zhang
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  4. Binh T. Nguyen
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  5. Srikrishnan Siva Subramanian
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tatsuya Ishikawa.

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Zhu, Y., Ishikawa, T., Zhang, Y. et al. A FEM-MPM hybrid coupled framework based on local shear strength method for simulating rainfall/runoff-induced landslide runout. Landslides 19, 2021–2032 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-022-01849-z

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