Effect of Hydraulic Hysteresis on Stability of Infinite Slopes under Steady Infiltration
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 9
Abstract
Hydraulic hysteresis, including capillary soil water retention (SWR), air entrapment SWR, and hydraulic conductivity, is a common phenomenon in unsaturated soils. However, the influence of hydraulic hysteresis on suction stress, and subsequently slope stability, is generally ignored. This paper examines the influence of each of these three types of hysteresis on slope stability using an infinite slope stability analysis under steady infiltration conditions. First, hypothetical slopes for representative silty and sandy soils are examined. Then a monitored hillslope in the San Francisco Bay Area, California is assessed, using observed rainfall conditions and measured hydraulic and geotechnical properties of the colluvial soil. Results show that profiles of suction stress and the corresponding factor of safety are generally strongly affected by hydraulic hysteresis. Results suggest that each of the three types of hydraulic hysteresis may play a major role in the occurrence of slope failure, indicating that ignoring hydraulic hysteresis will likely lead to underestimates of failure potential and hence to inaccurate slope stability analysis.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This research is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (Grant Nos. CMMI 1233063 and CMMI 1230544), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11302243). The first author is also supported by the program of government-funded overseas study of the Chinese Academy of Science. The authors are grateful to Brian D. Collins of the U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California for providing information and data from the monitoring site in Alameda County, California. The authors are grateful to Brian A. Ebel of the U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado for constructive feedback on an earlier version of this manuscript. Any use of trade, firm, or industry names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
References
Anagnostopoulos, G. G., Fatichi, S., and Burlando, P. (2015). “An advanced process-based distributed model for the investigation of rainfall-induced landslides: The effect of process representation and boundary conditions.” Water Resour. Res., 51(9), 7501–7523.
BeVille, S. H., Mirus, B. B., Ebel, B. A., Mader, G. G., and Loague, K. (2010). “Using simulated hydrologic response to revisit the 1973 Lerida Court landslide.” Environ. Earth Sci., 61(6), 1249–1257.
Brooks, R. H., and Corey, A. T. (1964). “Hydraulic properties of porous media.” Hydrology paper 3, A. T. Corey, R. E. Dils, and V. M. Yevdjevich, eds., Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO.
Chen, P., and Wei, C. (2015). “Numerical procedure for simulating the two-phase flow in unsaturated soils with hydraulic hysteresis.” Int. J. Geomech., .
Chen, P., Wei, C., Liu, J., and Ma, T. T. (2013). “Strength theory model of unsaturated soils with suction stress concept.” J. Appl. Math., 2013, 1–10.
Chen, P., Wei, C., and Ma, T. T. (2014). “Analytical model of soil-water characteristics considering the effect of air entrapment.” Int. J. Geomech., .
Collins, B. D., Stock, J. D., Foster, K. A., Whitman, M. P. W., and Knepprath, N. E. (2012). “Monitoring subsurface hydrologic response for precipitation-induced shallow landsliding in the San Francisco Bay area, California, USA.” Landslides and engineered slopes: Protecting society through improved understanding, E. Eberhardt, C. Froese, K. Turner, and S. Leroueil, eds., Taylor & Francis Group, London.
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.
Faybishenko, B. A. (1995). “Hydraulic behavior of quasi-saturated soils in the presence of entrapped air: Laboratory experiments.” Water Resour. Res., 31(10), 2421–2435.
Feng, M., and Fredlund, D. G. (1999). “Hysteretic influence associated with thermal conductivity sensor measurements.” Proc., 52nd Canadian Geotechnical and Unsaturated Soil Group Conf.: From Theory to the Practice of Unsaturated Soil Mechanics, BiTech Publishers, Richmond, BC, 651–657.
Godt, J. W., Baum, R. L., and Lu, N. (2009). “Landsliding in partially saturated materials.” Geophys. Res. Lett., 36(2), L02403.
Godt, J. W., Sener-Kaya, B., Lu, N., and Baum, R. L. (2012). “Stability of infinite slopes under transient partially saturated seepage conditions.” Water Resour. Res., 48(5), W05505.
Iverson, R. M. (2000). “Landslide triggering by rain infiltration.” Water Resour. Res., 36(7), 1897–1910.
Kool, J. B., and Parker, J. C. (1987). “Development and evaluation of closed-form expressions for hysteresis soil hydraulic properties.” Water Resour. Res., 23(1), 105–114.
Likos, W. J., Lu, N., and Godt, J. W. (2013). “Hysteresis and uncertainty in soil water-retention curve parameters.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., .
Likos, W. J., Wayllace, A., Lu, N., and Godt, J. W. (2010). “Modified direct shear apparatus for suction-controlled testing at low stress levels.” Geotech. Test. J., 33(4), 286–298.
Lu, N., and Godt, J. (2008). “Infinite slope stability under steady unsaturated seepage conditions.” Water Resour. Res., 44(11), W11404.
Lu, N., and Godt, J. W. (2013). Hillslope hydrology and stability, Cambridge University Press, New York.
Lu, N., Godt, J. W., and Wu, D. T. (2010). “A closed-form equation for effective stress in unsaturated soil.” Water Resour. Res., 46(5), W05515.
Lu, N., and Griffiths, D. V. (2004). “Suction stress profiles in unsaturated soils.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 1063–1076.
Lu, N., Kaya, M., Collins, B., and Godt, J. (2013). “Hysteresis of unsaturated hydromechanical properties of a silty soil.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 507–510.
Lu, N., and Likos, W. J. (2004). Unsaturated soil mechanics, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, p. 556.
Lu, N., and Likos, W. J. (2006). “Suction stress characteristic curve for unsaturated soil.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 131–142.
Ma, K.-C., Tan, Y.-C., and Chen, C.-H. (2011). “The influence of water retention curve hysteresis on the stability of unsaturated soil slopes.” Hydrol. Process., 25(23), 3563–3574.
Ma, T. T., Wei, C., Chen, P., Tian, H. H., and Sun, D. A. (2013). “A unified elastoplastic model of unsaturated soils considering capillary hysteresis.” J. Appl. Math., 2013, 1–15.
Mein, R. G., and Larson, C. L. (1973). “Modeling infiltration during a steady rain.” Water Resour. Res., 9(2), 384–394.
Oh, S., Lu, N., Kim, Y., Lee, S., and Lee, S. (2012). “Relationship between the soil-water characteristic curve and the suction stress characteristic curve: Experimental evidence from residual soils.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 47–57.
Poulovassilis, A. (1970). “The effect of the entrapped air on the hysteresis curves of a porous body and on its hydraulic conductivity.” Soil Sci., 109(3), 154–162.
Rahardjo, H. T., Chang, M. F., and Lim, T. T. (1996). “Stability of residual soil slopes as affected by rainfall.” Proc., 7th Int. Symp. on Landslides, A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 1109–1114.
Rahardjo, H. T., Ong, H., Rezaur, B., and Leong, E. C. (2007). “Factors controlling instability of homogeneous soil slopes under rainfall.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 1532–1543.
Rossi, C., and Nimmo, J. R. (1994). “Modeling of soil water retention from saturation to oven dryness.” Water Resour. Res., 30(3), 701–708.
Sakaguchi, A., Nishimura, T., and Kato, M. (2005). “The effect of entrapped air on the quasi-saturated soil hydraulic conductivity and comparison with the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity.” Vadose Zone J., 4(1), 139–144.
Scott, P. S., Farquhar, G. J., and Kouwen, N. (1983). “Hysteresis effects on net infiltration.” Advances in infiltration, American Society of Agricultural Engineering, St. Joseph, MI, 163–170.
Seymour, R. M., (2000). “Air entrapment and consolidation occurring with saturated hydraulic conductivity changes with intermittent wetting.” Irrig. Sci., 20(1), 9–14.
Stonestrom, D. A., and Rubin, J. (1989). “Water-content dependence of trapped air in 2 soils.” Water Resour. Res., 25(9), 1947–1958.
Sun, D. M., Zang, Y. G., Feng, P. F., and Semprich, S. (2016). “Quasi-saturated zones induced by rainfall infiltration.” Transp. Porous Media, 112(1), 77–104.
Tami, D., Rahardjo, H., and Leong, E. C. (2004). “Effects of hysteresis on steady-state infiltration in unsaturated slopes.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 956–967.
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.
Wayllace, A., and Lu, N. (2012). “A transient water release and imbibitions method for rapidly measuring wetting and drying soil water retention and hydraulic conductivity functions.” Geotech. Test. J., 35(1), 1–15.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 9 • September 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 15, 2016
Accepted: Feb 7, 2017
Published ahead of print: Apr 19, 2017
Published online: Apr 20, 2017
Published in print: Sep 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Sep 20, 2017
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.