Abstract
The behaviour of natural and artificial slopes is controlled by their thermo-hydro-mechanical conditions and by soil–vegetation–atmosphere interaction. Porewater pressure changes within a slope related to variable meteorological settings have been shown to be able to induce soil erosion, shrinkage–swelling and cracking, thus leading to an overall decrease of the available soil strength with depth and, ultimately, to a progressive slope collapse. In terms of numerical modelling, the stability analysis of partially saturated slopes is a complex problem and a wide range of approaches from simple limit equilibrium solutions to advanced numerical analyses have been proposed in the literature. The more advanced approaches, although more rigorous, require input data such as the soil water retention curve and the hydraulic conductivity function, which are difficult to obtain in some cases. The quantification of the effects of future climate scenarios represents an additional challenge in forecasting slope–atmosphere interaction processes. This paper presents a review of real and ideal case histories regarding the numerical analysis of natural and artificial slopes subjected to different types of climatic perturbations. The limits and benefits of the different numerical approaches adopted are discussed and some general modelling recommendations are addressed.
Highlights
The equilibrium conditions within slopes, and their level of stability, depend on several factors (Terzaghi 1950), which include the boundary conditions at the ground surface
Several observations are reported in the literature of damage to structures and infrastructure interacting with slope movements connected to the slope–atmosphere interaction, which represents a source of risk for society
With regard to natural slopes, the damage to buildings and infrastructure interacting with unstable slopes is increasing, mostly as a result of the increase of structures built in areas of high landslide hazard connected to climate, and of structures put at risk by wrong planning schemes (Cascini et al 2005; Cotecchia et al 2010, 2011)
Summary
Gaetano Elia1*, Federica Cotecchia, Giuseppe Pedone, Jean Vaunat, Philip J. Springman, Mohamed Rouainia, John Van Esch, Eugeniusz Koda, Josif Josifovski, Alessandra Nocilla, Amin Askarinejad, Ross Stirling, Peter Helm, Piernicola Lollino13 &. F.C., 0000-0001-9846-4193; J.V., 0000-0003-3579-9652; C.P., 0000-0001-8805-8685; A.N., 0000-0003-0665-8826;
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