Interdisciplinary asperity theory to analyze nonlinear motion of loess landslides with weak sliding interface

Abstract

While research into landslide disasters is relatively extensive and in-depth, the false alarm rate is still high. Previous research has indicated similar mechanical problems between the seismic faults and the sliding interface of landslides. Here, we introduce asperity theory from seismology to improve the prediction level of landslide damage. We designed a soil landslide model sized at 2.0 m × 0.6 m × 1.5 m where the upper layer is loess and the lower layer is mudstone. Four pore water pressure sensors and four soil pressure sensors are equally spaced at the loess-mudstone interface. The monitoring results show that the sliding interface has the characteristics of asperity, while the landslide failure is a nonlinear movement process. Although it is difficult to directly measure asperities, we can infer their position at the sliding interface by measuring the velocity or displacement of the landslide surface. We install monitoring sensors at the surface region corresponding to the asperity. Once there is a large deformation in the region, there is a significant probability that the entire landslide will be destroyed. Thus, asperity theory was applied for an early warning system of landslide disasters, which will greatly improve the monitoring and prediction of future landslides.