Abstract
This study presents the case of a landslide triggered by a high groundwater level caused by several days of continuous rainfall in the northeastern region of Taiwan. The slope where this landslide occurred consists of closely jointed and weathered bedrock. By means of finite element limit analysis and the Hoek–Brown failure criterion, this study performed a slope failure simulation similar to the actual landslide and deduced the reasonable value range for the combination of key Hoek–Brown failure criterion parameters through back analyses. The results indicate that the key parameters affecting the bedrock’s slope stability were the geological strength index (GSI) and the disturbance factor (D), whereas the effects of the unconfined compressive strength (σci) were less significant. The results of the back analysis reveal that the suitable D-value range and GSI of closely jointed and weathered sandstone in the northeastern region of Taiwan are 0.8 to 0.9 and 20 to 30, respectively. These back-analyzed value ranges can serve as a reference for broader applications in the preliminary stability analysis of similar rock slopes where it is difficult to perform in situ investigation.
Highlights
Jun YangTaiwan is an island located on the western side of the Pacific Ocean, along the boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate
A Finite Element Limit Analysis (FELA)-based numerical model was used in this study to simulate the process of the failure of closely jointed and weathered rock mass slopes in order to examine the effects of each key parameter of the Hoek–Brown failure criterion on the rock slope stability and to determine the reasonable range for each key parameter that corresponds to similar bedrock slopes in the northeastern region of Taiwan
This study presents the case of a landslide that occurred on a slope that consists of closely jointed and weathered bedrock common in Taiwan
Summary
Taiwan is an island located on the western side of the Pacific Ocean, along the boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate. In quantitative LSA, factor–weight combinations differ by the topographical and geological features of the local region, and multivariate statistical analysis or machine learning model, etc., are often the main analytical methods [5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. Both qualitative and quantitative LSA lack thorough assumptions about the mechanical properties of soil or rock mass slopes, and the results are not presented as the FSs with which the geotechnical engineers are familiar.
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