Groundwater Modeling for the Analysis of Active Slow-Moving Landslides
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 9
Abstract
Active slow-moving landslides in clayey soils exhibit continuous movements generally controlled both in the accelerating and decelerating phases by the pore-water pressure regime that, in turn, is strictly correlated to the net rainfall regime. The paper stresses the importance of a reliable groundwater model to predict these types of movements. To this aim a procedure is proposed to define the transient groundwater regime in the slope on the basis of recorded rainfall and monitoring data; the model is then used to derive the time-dependent shear strength along the main slip surfaces. The displacements at selected points along the slip surface are computed using a phenomenological (i.e., empirical) relationship between the local factor of safety and the displacement rate at those points. The procedure is employed for the analysis of a well-documented case history: the Porta Cassia landslide (central Italy).
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© 2010 ASCE.
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Received: Mar 5, 2009
Accepted: Jan 19, 2010
Published online: Jan 22, 2010
Published in print: Sep 2010
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