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Examination of influences of rainfall patterns on shallow landslides due to dissipation of matric suction

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Abstract

The influences of rainfall patterns on shallow landslides due to the dissipation of matric suction are examined in this study. Four representative rainfall patterns including the uniform, advanced, intermediated, and delayed rainfalls are adopted. The results show that not only the occurrence of shallow landslides but also the failure depth and the time of failure are affected by the rainfall pattern. The different rainfall patterns seem to have the same minimum landslide-triggering rainfall amount. There is a rainfall duration threshold for landslide occurrence for a rainfall event with larger than the minimum landslide-triggering rainfall amount. For each rainfall pattern, the rainfall duration threshold for landslide occurrence decreases to constant with the increase of rainfall amount. The uniform rainfall has the least rainfall duration threshold for landslide occurrence, followed by the advanced rainfall, and then the intermediated rainfall. For each rainfall pattern, the failure depths and the times of failure from the same amount of rainfall with different durations could be largely different. In addition, the differences of the failure depths and the times of failure between various rainfall patterns with the same amount and duration of rainfall could be also significant. The failure depth and the time of failure, as compared with the occurrence of shallow landslides, are more sensitive to the rainfall condition. In other words, in comparison with the evaluation of the occurrence of shallow landslides, it needs more accurate rainfall prediction to achieve reliable estimations of the failure depth and the time of failure.

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Abbreviations

C :

The change in volumetric water content per unit change in pressure head

c′:

Effective cohesion

d Z :

Water depth

d LZ :

Slope depth

FS:

Factor of safety

G s :

The specific gravity of soil solid

I Z :

Rainfall intensity

K s :

Saturated hydraulic conductivity

K L :

Hydraulic conductivity in lateral direction (x and y)

K z :

Hydraulic conductivities in slope-normal direction (z)

S :

The degree of saturation

S r :

The residual degree of saturation

S e :

The effective saturation

M :

Fitting parameter

N :

Fitting parameter

T :

Rainfall duration

u a :

Pore air pressure

u w :

Pore water pressure

Z :

The coordinates

σ :

Total normal stress

ψ :

Groundwater pressure head

θ :

Soil volumetric water content

θ s :

Saturated volumetric water content

θ r :

Residual volumetric water content

α :

Slope angle

ϕ′:

Effective friction angle

ζ :

Fitting parameter

χ :

The parameter for shear strength of unsaturated soil

\( \overline{\gamma } \) :

The depth-averaged unit weight of soil

γ w :

The unit weight of water

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the National Science Council of the Republic of China under grant nos. NSC 97-2625-M-415-001 and NSC-98-2625-M-415-001-MY2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Water Resources Engineering, National Chiayi University, 300 Sefu Road, Chiayi City, 60004, Taiwan

    Tung-Lin Tsai & Jyun-Kai Wang

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  1. Tung-Lin Tsai
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  2. Jyun-Kai Wang
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Correspondence to Tung-Lin Tsai.

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Tsai, TL., Wang, JK. Examination of influences of rainfall patterns on shallow landslides due to dissipation of matric suction. Environ Earth Sci 63, 65–75 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-010-0669-1

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