Abstract
Variations in the hydraulic and mechanical behaviour of soils caused by rainfall infiltration are major causes of slope failure. In previous studies, hydraulic hysteresis was commonly ignored to simplify seepage analysis, but this can cause an inaccurate representation of the hydromechanical behaviour of soils and the stability of the associated slopes. In the present study, the effects of hysteretic soil water characteristic curves (SWCC) on the hydromechanical behaviour and slope stability associated with rainfall were assessed, and the results were compared with those obtained using the non-hysteretic SWCC. Hysteresis associated with the capillary and air entrapment effects was considered, and these were incorporated into the analysis of the hydromechanical framework. The hydraulic response and slope stability were analyzed using numerical modelling. Effects of the hydraulic hysteresis on the hydromechanical behaviour within the slope under transient rainfall conditions were then explored. The infiltration fluxes linked to the non-hysteresis and hysteresis conditions differ, impacting the water flow regime and slope stability. Hysteresis involving higher air entrapment shortens the failure time compared to the non-hysteresis condition. The present study demonstrates that hydraulic hysteresis involving air entrapment is important for an adequate assessment of the hydromechanical response of silty soil and the stability of the associated slope.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Azizi A, Jommi C and Musso G 2017 A water retention model accounting for the hysteresis induced by hydraulic and mechanical wetting–drying cycles; Comput. Geotech. 87 86–98, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2017.02.003.
Bashir R, Sharma J and Stefaniak H 2015 Effect of hysteresis of soil-water characteristic curves on infiltration under different climatic conditions; Can. Geotech. J. 53(2) 273–284, https://doi.org/10.1139/cgj-2015-0004.
Basile A, Ciollaro G and Coppola A 2003 Hysteresis in soil water characteristics as a key to interpreting comparisons of laboratory and field measured hydraulic properties; Water Resour. Res. 39(12), https://doi.org/10.1029/2003WR002432.
Bhaskar P, Puppala A J and Boluk B 2022 Influence of unsaturated hydraulic properties on transient seepage and stability analysis of an earthen dam; Int. J. Geomech. 22(7) 04022105, https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0002414.
Caine N 1980 The rainfall intensity-duration control of shallow landslides and debris flows; Geografiska Annaler 62(1/2) 23–27, https://doi.org/10.1080/04353676.1980.11879996.
Carsel R F and Parrish R S 1988 Developing joint probability distributions of soil water retention characteristics; Water Resour. Res. 24(5) 755–769, https://doi.org/10.1029/WR024i005p00755.
Chen P, Mirus B, Lu N and Godt J W 2017 Effect of hydraulic hysteresis on stability of infinite slopes under steady infiltration; J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 143(9) 04017041, https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001724.
Chen P, Wei C and Ma T 2015 Analytical model of soil-water characteristics considering the effect of air entrapment; Int. J. Geomech. 15(6) 04014102, https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0000462.
Cheng Q, Ng C W W, Zhou C and Tang C-S 2019 A new water retention model that considers pore nonuniformity and evolution of pore size distribution; Bull. Eng. Geol. Environ. 78 5055–5065, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-019-01476-4.
Comegna L, Rianna G, Lee S G and Picarelli L 2016 Influence of the wetting path on the mechanical response of shallow unsaturated sloping covers; Comput. Geotech. 73 164–169, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2015.11.026.
Coutinho R Q, Silva M M, dos Santos A N and Lacerda W A 2019 Geotechnical characterization and failure mechanism of landslide in granite residual soil; J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 145(8) 05019004, https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0002052.
Ebel B A, Loague K and Borja R I 2010 The impacts of hysteresis on variably saturated hydrologic response and slope failure; Environ. Earth Sci. 61(6) 1215–1225, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-009-0445-2.
Fredlund D G and Rahardjo H 1993 Soil mechanics for unsaturated soils; 1st edn, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ, USA.
Fredlund D G, Rahardjo H and Fredlund M D 2012 Unsaturated soil mechanics in engineering practice; 1st edn, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ, USA.
Fredlund D G and Xing A 1994 Equations for the soil-water characteristic curve; Can. Geotech. J. 31(4) 521–532, https://doi.org/10.1139/t94-061.
Fredlund M D 1996 Design of a knowledge-based system for unsaturated soil properties, Master of Science (M.Sc.), University of Saskatchewan.
Froude M J and Petley D 2018 Global fatal landslide occurrence from 2004 to 2016; Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. 18 2161–2181, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-2161-2018.
Haines W B 1930 Studies in the physical properties of soil. V. The hysteresis effect in capillary properties, and the modes of moisture distribution associated therewith; J. Agric. Sci. 20(1) 97–116, https://doi.org/10.1017/S002185960008864X.
Hillel D 1980 Fundamentals of Soil Physics; 1st edn, Academic Press, New York, NY, USA.
Iverson R M 2000 Landslide triggering by rain infiltration; Water Resour. Res. 36(7) 1897–1910, https://doi.org/10.1029/2000WR900090.
Iyer K K R, Joseph J, Shetty R and Singh D N 2018 Some investigations to quantify hysteresis associated with water retention behaviour of fine-grained soils; Geomech. Geoeng. 13(4) 264–275, https://doi.org/10.1080/17486025.2018.1445872.
Jaynes D 1984 Comparison of soil-water hysteresis models; J. Hydrol. 75(1–4) 287–299, https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1694(84)90054-4.
Kim J, Hwang W and Kim Y 2018 Effects of hysteresis on hydromechanical behavior of unsaturated soil; Eng. Geol. 245 1–9, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2018.08.004.
Kool J and Parker J C 1987 Development and evaluation of closed-form expressions for hysteretic soil hydraulic properties; Water Resour. Res. 23(1) 105–114, https://doi.org/10.1029/WR023i001p00105.
Kristo C, Rahardjo H and Satyanaga A 2017 Effect of variations in rainfall intensity on slope stability in Singapore; Int. Soil Water Conserv. Res. 5(4) 258–264, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iswcr.2017.07.001.
Kristo C, Rahardjo H and Satyanaga A 2019 Effect of hysteresis on the stability of residual soil slope; Int. Soil Water Conserv. Res. 7(3) 226–238, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iswcr.2019.05.003.
Le T M H, Gallipoli D, Sanchez M and Wheeler S J 2012 Stochastic analysis of unsaturated seepage through randomly heterogeneous earth embankments; Int. J. Numer. Anal. Methods Geomech. 36(8) 1056–1076, https://doi.org/10.1002/nag.1047.
Li Y and Vanapalli S K 2022 Models for predicting the soil-water characteristic curves for coarse and fine-grained soils; J. Hydrol. 612 128248, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2022.128248.
Likos W J, Lu N and Godt J W 2014 Hysteresis and uncertainty in soil water-retention curve parameters; J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 140(4) 04013050, https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001071.
Lin Z, Qian J and Zhai Q 2022 A novel hysteretic soil–water retention model with contact angle-dependent capillarity; Int. J. Geomech. 22(2) 06021037, https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0002284.
Liu J, Chen P and Li W 2018 Assessing hydraulic hysteresis models to characterize unsaturated flow behavior under drying and wetting conditions; Int. J. Geomech. 18(7) 04018080, https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0001205.
Liu K, Vardon P J, Hicks M A and Arnold P 2017 Combined effect of hysteresis and heterogeneity on the stability of an embankment under transient seepage; Eng. Geol. 219 140–150, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2016.11.011.
Lu N 2016 Generalized soil water retention equation for adsorption and capillarity; J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 142(10) 04016051.
Lu N and Godt J 2008 Infinite slope stability under steady unsaturated seepage conditions; Water Resour. Res. 44(11) W11404, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008WR006976.
Lu N and Godt J W 2013 Hillslope hydrology and stability; Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, USA, pp. 9–25.
Lu N, Godt J W and Wu D T 2010a A closed‐form equation for effective stress in unsaturated soil; Water Resour. Res. 46(5), https://doi.org/10.1029/2009WR008646.
Lu N, Wayllace A and Godt J 2010b A hydromechanical model for predicting infiltration-induced landslides, The 3rd USGS Modeling Conference, June 7–11, 2010, Geol Soc Amer, No. 3-3.
Lu N and Kaya M 2014 Power law for elastic moduli of unsaturated soil; J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 140(1) 46–56, https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000990.
Lu N, Kaya M, Collins B D and Godt J W 2013 Hysteresis of unsaturated hydromechanical properties of a silty soil; J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 139(3) 507–510, https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000786.
Lu N and Likos W J 2004 Unsaturated soil mechanics; John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ, USA.
Lu N and Likos W J 2006 Suction stress characteristic curve for unsaturated soil; J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 132(2) 131–142, https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(2006)132:2(131).
Lu N, Şener Kaya B, Wayllace A and Godt J W 2012 Analysis of rainfall‐induced slope instability using a field of local factor of safety; Water Resour. Res. 48(9), https://doi.org/10.1029/2012WR011830.
Miao L, Liu S and Lai Y 2002 Research of soil–water characteristics and shear strength features of Nanyang expansive soil; Eng. Geol. 65(4) 261–267.
Moore R, Carey J, Mills A, Martin S, Irinder S, Kerry L, Leask G, Simmons A and Ashaari M 2006 Recent landslide impacts on the UK Scottish road network: Investigation into the mechanisms, causes and management of landslide risk, Proc. Int. Conf. Slopes, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, pp. 223–237.
Mualem Y 1976 A new model for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated porous media; Water Resour. Res. 12(3) 513–522, https://doi.org/10.1029/WR012i003p00513.
Nuth M and Laloui L 2008 Advances in modelling hysteretic water retention curve in deformable soils; Comput. Geotech. 35(6) 835–844, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2008.08.001.
Oh S and Lu N 2015 Slope stability analysis under unsaturated conditions: Case studies of rainfall-induced failure of cut slopes; Eng. Geol. 184 96–103, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2014.11.007.
Onyelowe K C, Mojtahedi F F, Azizi S, Mahdi H A, Sujatha E R, Ebid A M, Darzi A G and Aneke F I 2022 Innovative overview of SWRC application in modeling geotechnical engineering problems; Designs 6(5) 69, https://doi.org/10.3390/designs6050069.
Pham H Q, Fredlund D G and Barbour S L 2005 A study of hysteresis models for soil-water characteristic curves; Can. Geotech. J. 42(6) 1548–1568, https://doi.org/10.1139/t05-071.
Raghuram A S S, Basha B M and Moghal A A B 2022 Influence of Fines Content on Stability of Unsaturated Soil Slopes; Stability of Slopes and Underground Excavations, Springer Singapore, Singapore, pp. 145–155.
Raj M and Sengupta A 2014 Rain-triggered slope failure of the railway embankment at Malda, India; Acta Geotech. 9(5) 789–798, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-014-0345-9.
Reddy J N 1985 An introduction to the finite element method; McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, USA.
Rianna G, Comegna L, Pagano L, Picarelli L and Reder A 2019 The role of hydraulic hysteresis on the hydrological response of pyroclastic silty covers; Water 11(3) 628.
Richards L A 1931 Capillary conduction of liquids through porous mediums; Physics 1(5) 318–333, https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1745010.
Russell A R and Buzzi O 2012 A fractal basis for soil-water characteristics curves with hydraulic hysteresis; Geotechnique 62(3) 269–274, https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.10.P.119.
Sakaki T, Limsuwat A, Cihan A, Frippiat C C and Illangasekare T H 2012 Water retention in a coarse soil pocket under wetting and drainage cycles; Vadose Zone J. 11(1), https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2011.0028.
Simunek J J, Šejna M and Van Genuchten M 2012 The HYDRUS-2D software package for simulating water flow and solute transport in two-dimensional variably saturated media, Version 2.0. Prague, Czech Republic: PC Progress.
Stonestrom D A and Rubin J 1989 Water content dependence of trapped air in two soils; Water Resour. Res. 25(9) 1947–1958, https://doi.org/10.1029/WR025i009p01947.
Sun D M, Zang Y G, Feng P and Semprich S 2016 Quasi-saturated zones induced by rainfall infiltration; Transport in Porous Media 112(1) 77–104, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-016-0633-y.
Tami D, Rahardjo H and Leong E C 2004 Effects of hysteresis on steady-state infiltration in unsaturated slopes; J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 130(9) 956–967, https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(2004)130:9(956).
Tsai T L and Yang J C 2006 Modeling of rainfall-triggered shallow landslide; Environ. Geol. 50(4) 525–534, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-006-0229-x.
Tsaparas I, Rahardjo H, Toll D G and Leong E C 2002 Controlling parameters for rainfall-induced landslides; Comput. Geotech. 29(1) 1–27, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0266-352X(01)00019-2.
Tu X, Kwong A, Dai F, Tham L and Min H 2009 Field monitoring of rainfall infiltration in a loess slope and analysis of failure mechanism of rainfall-induced landslides; Eng. Geol. 105(1–2) 134–150, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2008.11.011.
van Genuchten M T 1980 A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils; Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 44(5) 892–898, https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj1980.03615995004400050002x.
Vanapalli S K, Fredlund D G, Pufahl D E and Clifton A W 1996 Model for the prediction of shear strength with respect to soil suction; Can. Geotech. J. 33(3) 379–392, https://doi.org/10.1139/t96-060.
Wen T, Shao L, Guo X and Zhao Y 2020 Experimental investigations of the soil water retention curve under multiple drying–wetting cycles; Acta Geotech. 15(11) 3321–3326, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-020-00964-2.
Werner A D and Lockington D A 2006 Artificial pumping errors in the Kool-Parker scaling model of soil moisture hysteresis; J. Hydrol. 325(1–4) 118–133, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2005.10.012.
Wijaya M and Leong E C 2017 Modelling the effect of density on the unimodal soil-water characteristic curve; Géotechnique 67(7) 637–645, https://doi.org/10.1680/jgeot.15.P.270.
Yang C, Sheng D and Carter J P 2012 Effect of hydraulic hysteresis on seepage analysis for unsaturated soils; Comput. Geotech. 41 36–56, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2011.11.006.
Zhai Q, Rahardjo H, Satyanaga A, Dai G and Du Y 2020 Estimation of the wetting scanning curves for sandy soils; Eng. Geol. 272 105635, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2020.105635.
Zhang L, Li X, Li J, Zhang J and Zhu H 2016 Rainfall-induced soil slope failure: Stability analysis and probabilistic assessment; 1st edn, Boca Raton, FL, USA, CRC Press.
Zhang L L, Zhang J, Zhang L M and Tang W H 2011 Stability analysis of rainfall-induced slope failure: A review; Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng.: Geotech. Eng. 164(5) 299–316, https://doi.org/10.1680/geng.2011.164.5.299.
Zhang S, Zhao L, Delgado Tellez R and Bao H 2018 A physics-based probabilistic forecasting model for rainfall-induced shallow landslides at regional scale; Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. 18(3) 969–982, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-969-2018.
Zhou A-N 2013 A contact angle-dependent hysteresis model for soil–water retention behaviour; Comput. Geotech. 49 36–42, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2012.10.004.
Zhou A-N, Sheng D and Carter J P 2012 Modelling the effect of initial density on soil-water characteristic curves; Géotechnique 62(8) 669–680, https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.10.P.120.
Zhou A, Huang R and Sheng D 2016 Capillary water retention curve and shear strength of unsaturated soils; Can. Geotech. J. 53(6) 974–987.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Ya-Sin Yang: Conceptualization, data analysis, simulation, and interpretation, mythology, writing-original draft, visualization; Hsin-Fu Yeh: Supervision, conceptualization, writing-reviewing and editing.
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by George Mathew
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yang, YS., Yeh, HF. Effects of hysteretic soil water characteristic curves on the hydromechanical behaviour. J Earth Syst Sci 132, 136 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-023-02146-6
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-023-02146-6