Abstract
Loess has a strong water sensitivity, so loess landslides often transform into loess mudflows when water is added on the Chinese Loess Plateau, which results in high casualties and property loss of the Chinese government. In this study, a series of flume tests were designed to study the initiation of loess mudflows. The results reveal that the initiation modes of loess mudflows include large-scale mudflow and retrogressive toe sliding (Type A), and small-scale mudflow and retrogressive toe sliding (Type B). A model was used to analyze the test results that describe the effects of water flow on the potential for hillslope failure and liquefaction. It was found that the soil accumulation was unconditionally stable before a loess mudflow was formed, but as the rainfall continued, the water gradually infiltrated the soil, and the soil accumulation changed from unconditionally stable to unconditionally unstable. Thus, this led to different initiation modes during the tests. For Type A, the water preferentially infiltrated into the area with an uneven density and a large amount of water accumulated. The pore water pressure increased quickly and could not dissipate in time, so the loess liquefied. As the liquefaction area continued to expand and became larger, Type A occurred. Relatively speaking, Type B occurs in soil accumulations with relatively uniform densities. These results provide a certain scientific reference for the study of loess mudflows.
Highlights
Loess is widely distributed over about 6.3 × 105 km2 in China (Liu, 1985; Ma et al, 2019a)
The small amount of sliding at the toe part led to further loss of the accumulation’s support, and retrogressive compound loess mudflows constantly occurred at the toe part of the soil accumulation
A series of flume tests were designed by controlling the slope angle between 10° and 20° to study the initiation mechanism of loess mudflows
Summary
Loess is widely distributed over about 6.3 × 105 km in China (Liu, 1985; Ma et al, 2019a). Loess landslides occur frequently in the loess area in China. Field investigations have revealed that from 1950 to 1992, a total of 14,109 loess landslides occurred on the Chinese Loess Plateau, with a distribution density of greater than 6/km (Zhuang and Peng, 2014). The loess landslides in Shanxi Province account for about one third of the landslides on the Chinese Loess Plateau, causing huge casualties and property loss of the Chinese government (Zhou et al, 2002; Peng et al, 2019). Loess mudflows are a special type of landslide. Loess is prone to collapse, softening, and even deformation as its water content increases, and water is the most important inducing factor of loess geohazards
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