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Performance of slope behavior indicators in unsaturated pyroclastic soils

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Abstract

Landslide risk is increasing in many parts of the world due to growth of population and infrastructures. Therefore, an effort has to be made in developing new and cheap sensors for areas susceptible of landslides to continuously control the slope behaviour, until approaching failure conditions. The paper reported experimental data from small-scale physical models about the performance of Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) and optical fibres, which act as the indicators of the incoming failure of slopes covered by unsaturated granular soils. Obtained results appear encouraging, since both sensors provide continuous information about the state of the slope, in terms of water content profiles and ongoing deformations, induced by rainwater infiltration, even immediately before the triggering of a fast landslide.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Design, Home Building and Environment, Seconda Universita di Napoli, Aversa, 81031, Italy

    Luciano Picarelli, Emilia Damiano, Roberto Greco & Lucio Olivares

  2. Department of Industrial and Information Engineering, Seconda Universita di Napoli, Aversa, 81031, Italy

    Aldo Minardo & Luigi Zeni

Authors
  1. Luciano Picarelli
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  2. Emilia Damiano
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  3. Roberto Greco
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  4. Aldo Minardo
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  5. Lucio Olivares
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  6. Luigi Zeni
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Correspondence to Emilia Damiano.

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Picarelli, L., Damiano, E., Greco, R. et al. Performance of slope behavior indicators in unsaturated pyroclastic soils. J. Mt. Sci. 12, 1434–1447 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-014-3104-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-014-3104-3

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