Abstract
Interaction between atmosphere and soil has only recently attracted significant interest. Soil-atmosphere interaction takes place under dynamic climatic conditions, which vary throughout the year and are expected to suffer considerable alterations due to climate change. However, Geotechnical Analysis has traditionally been limited to simplistic approaches, where winter and summer pore water pressure profiles are prescribed. Geotechnical Structures, such as cut slopes, are known to be prone to large irreversible displacements under the combined effect of water uptake by a complex vegetation root system and precipitation. If such processes take place in an unsaturated material the complexity of the problem renders the use of numerical analysis essential. In this paper soil-atmosphere interaction in cut slopes is studied using advanced, fully coupled partially saturated finite element analyses. The effect of rainfall and evapotranspiration is modelled through sophisticated boundary conditions, applying actual meteorological data on a monthly basis. Stages of low and high water demand vegetation are considered for a period of several years, before simulating the effect of vegetation removal. The analysis results are presented with regard to the serviceability and stability of the cut slope.
Highlights
It has long been shown that pore water pressure variation stepping stress point-algorithm, was used
Tsiampousi et al [1] have shown that the factor of safety against failure of slopes excavated in unsaturated soils does not generally decrease with time, as in saturated soils
The precipitation boundary condition is a dual boundary condition which enables the simulation of rainfall infiltration and runoff; it may operate as an infiltration condition, by specifying a constant inflow rate, qn, or as a constant prescribed pore water pressure condition, pfb [5]
Summary
(FE) code ICFEP [2], which adopts a modified NewtonRaphson solution technique with an error controlled sub-. The boundary value problem to be pressures may vary due to consolidation or due to solved is presented in detail and the results of the seasonal variations in the water balance under the analysis are discussed. Tsiampousi et al [1] have shown that the factor of safety against failure of slopes excavated in unsaturated soils does not generally decrease with time, as in saturated soils The numerical analysis of a slope excavated in an unsaturated soil is presented in this paper. Pore water pressures change in the analysis due to the combined effect of consolidation and soil-atmosphere interaction
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