Hydro-mechanical properties of unsaturated residual soil from a flysch rock mass

Abstract

Rainfall is a major triggering factor of landslides in flysch deposits along Europe. Physical and mechanical changes of flysch rock masses caused by the weathering process, result in a complex soil profile with residual soil typically present at the slope surface. The research encompasses residual soils from the Rječina River Valley in Croatia. Built in flysch deposits, the valley is known for several deep-seated and shallow historical landslides. This manuscript presents the hydro-mechanical properties of the soil existing in unsaturated zone of the slope that could play an important role in landslide activation on flysch slopes. Presented unsaturated soil property functions are essential for modelling of the transient rainfall infiltration process and how it affects the stability of flysch slopes in time. For the first time, shear strength and hydraulic conductivity determination were performed in saturated and unsaturated soil conditions, using both the intact as well as remolded samples of the residual soil form flysch rock mass. The results indicate that, in order to correctly define hydraulic and mechanical properties of the in-situ soil, measurements have to be performed on intact samples. Also, the presented results highlight the importance of hysteresis effects and hydraulic paths that fine-grained residual soil has been subjected to in the past.