Seepage-stress coupled modeling for rainfall induced loess landslide

Abstract

Although rainfall is rare on the Loess Plateau of western China, landslides occur frequently there in rainy season. Surveys report that landslide hazards always follow heavy rains. In this study, a seepage-stress coupling model for rainfall induced landslide is used to examine an actual disastrous event in Yulin by the end of July, 2017. The effects of rainfall duration, rainfall intensity and soil weakening on slope stability are studied in detail. The results illustrate that the safety factor drops sharply at first and then is gradually declining to below 1.05 during additional two days of heavy rain. With soil strength softening considered, the slope would be more unstable, in which the weakening in soil cohesion is found to be a more sensitive factor. Keywords: Loess, Rain infiltration, Seepage-stress coupling, Strength weakening, Landslide