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Influence of rainfall-induced wetting on the stability of slopes in weathered soils |
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| Authors: | Jaehong Kim Sangseom Jeong Seongwan Park Jitendra Sharma |
| Institution: | aDepartment of Civil Engineering, Yonsei University, 134 Sinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-749, Republic of Korea bDepartment of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Dankook University, Seoul, Republic of Korea cDepartment of Civil & Geological Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Canada |
| Abstract: | Shallow failures of slopes in weathered soil are caused by infiltration due to prolonged rainfall. These failures are mainly triggered by the deepening of the wetting band accompanied by a decrease in matric suction induced by the water infiltration. This paper reports trends of rainfall-induced wetting band depth in two types of weathered soils that are commonly found in Korea. Both theoretical and numerical analyses for wetting band depth are presented based on the soil–water characteristic curve obtained using filter paper as well as tensiometer tests. It is found that the magnitude of wetting front suction plays a key role in the stability of slopes in weathered soils. Theoretical analysis based on modified Green and Ampt model tends to underestimate the wetting band depth for typical Korean weathered soils. It was also deduced that for Korean weathered soils, the factor of safety drops rapidly once the wetting band depth of 1.2 m reached. |
| Keywords: | Infiltration Rainfall Wetting front suction Unsaturated soils Slope stability |
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