Abstract
Shallow soil slips are a significant hydrogeological hazard which could affect extended areas of the high-gradient mountainous landscape. Their triggering is highly dependent on the rainfall water infiltration and its further redistribution, as well as the characteristic properties of the soil itself. The complex interaction between those factors generates a considerable degree of uncertainty in the understanding of the governing processes. In this work, we take a small step further towards the untangling of those intricate relationships through observation. The results of a set of 20 downscaled shallow land mass failures are analysed through a principal component analysis and a further detailed look at the resulting parametric trends. Moreover, electrical resistivity tomography measurements are added up to the interpretation of experimental data, by providing a glimpse on the rainfall water infiltration process at the subsurface level. The outcome of this work implies that the coupled interaction between rainfall intensity, hydraulic conductivity and soil moisture gradient is governing the stability of soil and while rainfall intensity and duration are essential instability predictors, they must be integrated with antecedent moisture and site-specific characteristics. A tentative comparison of the dataset with existing rainfall thresholds for shallow landslide occurrence suggests the potential application of experimental tests for thresholds’ definition or validation under the appropriate dimensional analysis. A dimensional analysis indicated the interconnection of parameters intrinsic to the problem, and the significance of scale effects in performing a downscaled simulation of land mass failure.
Highlights
Shallow landslides represent a non-negligible division in the vast areas of hydrogeological disasters and in particular, the failure of unstable land masses [1]
We present the results obtained from a set of 20 laboratory experiments of rainfall induced landslide simulations under a variety of soil hydrogeological conditions and rainfall event scenarios, where the stability governing process is the propagation of a wetting front
We presented the experimental results of a set of downsized simulations of shallow land mass failures
Summary
Shallow landslides represent a non-negligible division in the vast areas of hydrogeological disasters and in particular, the failure of unstable land masses [1]. Rainfall water infiltration is deemed the fundamental driver of shallow land mass failures, where the infiltration process could cause the swift saturation of the superficial soil layers, or the generation of a perched water table [6]. Rainfall intensity is considered a key parameter for failure triggering, together with the drainage capability of the soil. The latter, in combination with the initial moisture, controls the downward propagation and redistribution of rainfall water. It is reasonable to say that the failure process is multifaceted and depends on the complex multiphysical interaction of the aforementioned parameters [8] This renders the definition of precursors and eventual early warning a rather difficult task to resolve analytically or through numerical models. Controlled laboratory conditions offer the possibility to entirely manage the process under study and the effect of single stability governing parameters could be examined
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