ANALYZING THE EFFECT OF WATER SEEPAGE AND SCOUR ON SLOPE STABILITY USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

Abstract

On every slope, there is always the possibility of landslides. One of the hypotheses tested was the effect of water flow and scour on slope stability at the investigated location. A brief inspection was carried out to determine the condition and influence of the river, in addition to soil investigations, for proper follow-up arrangement. At landslide sites, water flow has an effect in raising the groundwater level so as to reduce the soil shear strength. Its causes the slope safety factor to drop below the safe rate. The scouring disrupts the stability of the slope but does not reduce the slope safety factor significantly. The parametric studies are chosen for their strong relation between measured displacement within the slope, to verify the measurements and the numerical analysis (Finite Element Method) results. The parametric study simulation shows that time-dependent numerical model could be useful as forecasting tool, including various possible scour and non-scour condition.

Keywords

• groundwater table
• finite element method (fem)
• landslides
• parametric studies
• multilaminate model
• creep/viscoplastic