Numerical Study on the Influence of Block Physical Characteristics on Landslide Migration Using Three-Dimensional Discontinuous Deformation Analysis

Abstract

The physical characteristics of blocks have an important impact on the migration and deposition in landslides, so the damage of landslides to the surrounding environment often has great uncertainty. To explore how the physical properties of blocks affect the landslide movement, we used Compaq Visual Fortran software with a DDA program to simulate the movement of a block landslide in our study. The velocity and location changes of two types of blocks (triangular and square blocks) were simulated by comparison. The contents of the simulation included the following points: (1) the influence of block density and weight on migration, (2) the influence of the elastic-slip characteristics and spring penalty coefficient on velocity, and (3) interaction between block vertices and the sliding surface. The results showed how the shape and physical properties of the blocks affect the migration of those blocks. Although the triangular blocks appeared to be more stable than the square blocks, they only exhibited greater stability on the gentle slope. The weight and elastic modulus of the blocks could improve the velocity and destructive force, whereas the spring penalty coefficient between the blocks and the contact surface had an obscure effect on the velocity. However, the changes of the above three parameters all led to non-linear changes of velocity. The simulation results indicated that the blocks with different numbers of edges and surfaces had complex trajectories because of contact frequency and mobility. The results show that the physical properties of the blocks could be one of the factors that could ultimately change the displacement of landslides.