9/25/2015

THE ROLE OF RAINFALL RESOLUTION

IN SLOPE FAILURE MECHANISMS

by:

MUHAMMAD SURADI

ANDY FOURIE

ALSIDQI HASAN

OUTLINE

• INTRODUCTION and LITERATURE REVIEW

• SITE and METHOD

• RESULTS and DISCUSSION

• CONCLUSIONS

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INTRODUCTION

 Background

• Rainfall is well known as a triggering factor of landslides

• Rainfall-soil interaction plays an important role

• Rainfall data is often simplified by using low resolutions

• Low resolution of rainfall data diminishes intensity fluctuation

 Aim

• To investigate the role of rainfall resolution in the mechanisms of

slope failure, particularly shallow slope failures

• To examine the importance of rainfall resolution in the mechanisms

of rainfall-induced slope failures

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 Literature Review

Rainfall Intensity-Soil
Conductivity

Rainwater partly becomes runoff

Infiltration
NP = P – Roff –AE or NP = P – Roff
ks

Slope Failure

SITE and METHOD

 Site:
Jabiru, NT,
Australia

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 Method:

• Extreme Rainfall on 26 February – 2 March 2007

120

100
Intensity (mm/h)

80

60

40

20

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120

Time (hr)

• Landslide Size

80 – 90 m

70 m

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• Simplified Slope Geometry

Low Permeability Layer

23 m
Impermeable Layer

19º 2m

 Soil Sampling and Field Tests

- Soil sampling  Lab tests:

Sieve Analysis & Atterberg Limits tests etc.  soil

characteristics & classification;

Direct Shear Test  shear strength parameters; and Pressuremeter Test

 SWCC parameters.

- Field tests:

Tension Infiltrometer test  hydraulic conductivity

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• Soil Sampling and Field Tests

• Particle Size Distribution

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• Soil Characteristics and Classification

Samp SG ρ w LL PL PI Soil Type

No. g/cm3 % % % % (USCS)
S1 2.82 1.45 33 50 37 13 MG
S2 2.68 1.42 32 54 35 19 MS
S4 2.86 26 56 30 26 C
S5 2.89 1.49 30 41 30 11 MS
S7 2.75 32 53 37 16 MS

• Soil-water characteristic curves (SWCC)

0.7

0.6
Volumetric Water Content

0.5

0.4

0.3
S1B S3B S4B S5B

0.2
S1W S3W S4W S5W

0.1
Av Avu Avl

0.0
1 10 100 1000

Matric Suction (kPa)

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• Hydraulic conductivity and shear strength parameters obtained

from laboratory and field tests

Testing Hydraulic Conductivity Shear Strength Parameters

Points ks (mm/h) c΄ (kPa) ϕ΄ ( º )
S1 0.27 0.0 39
S2 31.33 6.6 25
S3 4.24
S4 8.98 2.0 34
S5 8.98 4.7 32
S6 0.22
S7 0.25 3.6 30
Av values 8 3 32

 Analysis Modelling

• Seepage Analysis  h   h  h
  k wx t     k wy t   q  mw2  w t
x  x  y  y  t

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• Slope Stability Analysis

τ = c΄ + (σn-ua) tan ϕ΄ + (ua – uw) tan ϕb

• Parametric Study

- Use rainfall data and simulated rainfall with varied resolution

- Rainfall resolution varied from 1h, 2h, 5h, 10h, 20h to average

- Use average values of soil parameters

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• Rainfall Data
- Use two extreme rainfall data: use Singapore rainfall data recorded from
Sembawang Station in December 2006 in addition to the Jabiru rainfall
data, NT, Australia

• Simulated Rainfall

- Use rainfall amount of 800 mm in 5 days (about the same amount of

rainfall data)

- Use 3 rainfall patterns, varied with different intervals between major and
minor intensities

Long Interval

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Medium Interval

Short Interval

RESULTS and DISCUSSION

Effect of rainfall on

slope failures
Main Stage
- Initial stage Final Stage
Initial Stage

- Main stage

- Final stage

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 Effect of rainfall resolution for rainfall data

on slope failures

• Jabiru rainfall (NT, Australia)

- Different rate of decrease of F in initial
stage
- The higher the resolution the slower the
rate of decrease of F
- Though average intensity causes faster
rate of decrease of F in initial stage,
slower rate of decrease of F in main
stage even leading to slope failure later
than that imposed by 20h rainfall
resolution

• Singapore rainfall

- Similar to slope failure mechanisms

imposed by the Jabiru rainfall

- However, smaller time gap for the

slope to reach Fmin with regard to
rainfall resolutions

- Thus, this study indicates that the more

the rainfall intensity fluctuates, the
bigger the time gap for the slope to
reach Fmin with regard to rainfall
resolutions

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 Effect of rainfall resolution for simulated rainfall on

slope failures

• The same rate of • Long time gap between major intensities

decrease of F in the
initial stage, but
different rate in the
main stage for rainfall
patterns with bigger
time gap between
major intensities

• Medium time gap between • Short time gap between major

major intensities intensities

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 Discussion
• Different sensitivities to rainfall resolutions between rainfall data and simulated rainfall
for high intensity fluctuation

• Rainfall data is sensitive to resolutions during the initial stage but simulated rainfall is
sensitive to resolutions during the main stage

• Attributed to different amount of rainwater infiltration associated with rainfall resolution

• During the initial stage, the amount of infiltration varies among rainfall data with different
resolutions, because intensity fluctuations produce different infiltration excess with
different resolution

• During the main stage, the amount of infiltration varies among simulated rainfall with
different resolutions, because rainfall intensity varies distinctly with different resolutions

CONCLUSIONS
• This study indicates the importance of rainfall resolution in rainfall-induced slope failure
mechanisms

• The higher the rainfall intensity fluctuation, the more sensitive the rainfall to resolution
which affects slope failure mechanisms

• Low rainfall resolution tends to produce an over-prediction of infiltration leading to more

conservative results, so the use of high resolution is particularly important for rainfall data
with highly fluctuating intensities in slope stability analysis

• This study also shows different sensitivities to rainfall resolution between rainfall data and
simulated rainfall for high intensity fluctuations.

• Rainfall data is sensitive to resolution during the initial stage, but simulated rainfall is
sensitive to resolution during the main stage.

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