Effects of Groundwater Table Position and Soil Properties on Stability of Slope during Rainfall
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 11
Abstract
Rainfall, hydrological condition, and geological formation of slope are important contributing factors to slope failures. Parametric studies were carried out to study the effect of groundwater table position, rainfall intensities, and soil properties in affecting slope stability. Three different groundwater table positions corresponding to the wettest, typical, and driest periods in Singapore and four different rainfall intensities (9, 22, 36, and 80 mm/h) were used in the numerical analyses. Typical soil properties of two main residual soils from the Bukit Timah Granite and the sedimentary Jurong Formation in Singapore were incorporated into the numerical analyses. The changes in factor of safety during rainfall were not affected significantly by the groundwater table near the ground surface due to the relatively small changes in matric suction during rainfall. A delay in response of the minimum factor of safety due to rainfall and a slower recovery rate after rainfall were observed in slopes from the sedimentary Jurong Formation as compared to those slopes from the Bukit Timah Granite. Numerical analyses of an actual residual soil slope from the Bukit Timah Granite at Marsiling Road and a residual soil slope from the sedimentary Jurong Formation at Jalan Kukoh show good agreement with the trends observed in the parametric studies.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by a research grant from a collaboration project between the Housing and Development Board and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. The writers gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Geotechnical Laboratory Staff, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, NTU, Singapore during the experiments and data collections.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 136 • Issue 11 • November 2010
Pages: 1555 - 1564
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Apr 29, 2009
Accepted: Feb 19, 2010
Published online: May 11, 2010
Published in print: Nov 2010
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