Simplification of the Stratigraphic Profile in Geotechnical Models of Landslides: An Analysis Through a Stochastic Approach

Abstract

The uncertainties in the determination of the stratigraphic profile of natural soils is one of the main problems in geotechnics, in particular for landslide characterization and modelling. The study deals with a new approach in geotechnical modelling which relays on a stochastic generation of different soil layers distributions, following a boolean logic. In this way, it is possible to randomize the presence of a specific material interdigitated in a uniform matrix. In fact in the building of a geotechnical model it is generally common to discard some stratigraphic data in order to simplify the model itself, assuming that the significativity of the results of the modelling procedure would not be affected. With the proposed technique it is possible to quantify the error associated with this simplification. Moreover, it could be used to determine the most significant zones where possible further investigations and surveys would be more effective. The commercial software FLAC 6.0 was used for the 2D geotechnical model. The distribution of the materials was randomized through a specifically coded Matlab program that automatically generates text files, each of them representing a specific soil configuration. Besides a routine was designed to automate the computation of FLAC with the different data files in order to maximize the sample number. In this paper, the methodology is applied with reference to a simplified slope. However, it could be then extended to numerous cases, especially for hydrogeological analysis and landslide stability assessment, in different geological and geomorphological contexts.