Phreatic Line Calculation of Reservoir Landslide under Complex Hydraulic Conditions—A Case Study

Abstract

A seepage field, influenced by rainfall and reservoir water level fluctuation, is closely associated with the stability of the reservoir landslide. Understanding the phreatic line variation inside the landslide is of significant importance for the analysis and evaluation of slope stability. Currently, most of the boundaries of phreatic line analytical models and the hydrological conditions are simplified, resulting in discrepancies between the outcomes derived from these models and the actual situation. Given this, the newly proposed analytical model is refined by addressing the following two issues. Firstly, the consideration of variable-speed reservoir level fluctuations is incorporated, and secondly, the reservoir bank within the water-level fluctuation zone is treated as non-vertical. Under the combined effect of reservoir water level fluctuation and rainfall, the Boussinesq Differential Equation of unsteady seepage is established and applied to the Majiagou landslide in Three Gorges reservoir area. The results of the analytical solution are basically consistent with the measured groundwater level results, which has demonstrated the accuracy of the proposed model. Consequently, the proposed model can quickly and accurately calculate the groundwater level of landslides, which provides an effective means for the prediction and early warning of reservoir landslides.