Indian Geotechnical Conference 2017 GeoNEst

14-16 December 2017, IIT Guwahati, India

Numerical Analysis of Rain-Induced Slope Instability

Adarsh S Chatra
G. R. Dodagoudar
V. B. Maji
Ramanandan S
Sundar Vel V
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai – 600036
E-mail: adarshchatra@gmail.com; goudar@iitm.ac.in; vbmaji@iitm.ac.in; ramanandans@gmail.com; sundaravel90@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: Rainfall is the main triggering factor for the slope failure; however the in situ degree of compaction of the
soil with associated soil properties has not received adequate attention in the study of rain-induced slope instability. In
this study, the finite difference analysis of water flow through unsaturated soil is carried out to study the effects of
rainfall intensity and duration on pore pressure generation and slope stability during rainfall event. A parametric
sensitivity analysis is performed considering three rainfall intensities applied over the soil slopes consisting of three
different soil states namely loose, medium and dense. Results indicate that the rainfall affects the stability of loose and
medium soil slopes much as compared to the dense soil slope.
Keywords: rainfall; slope stability; pore pressure; degree of saturation; landslides.
1. Introduction 2. Stability Analysis
The slope failures and landslides occur when hillslopes
become mechanically unstable, because of geologic and 2.1 Slope geometry and boundary conditions
hydrogeologic processes and pose a serious threat to In this study, the slope geometry, mechanical and
human life and built environments in their proximity and hydraulic properties that are given in Cai and Ugai (2004)
along the runout of the mass movement. These slope are considered. Figure 1 shows the homogeneous slope of
failures have become common geotechnical problems and silty sand having specific slope geometry and boundary
are most common in many countries such as Hong Kong, conditions. The slope angle of 33.7o, slope height of 10 m
Italy, Singapore, India, etc. (Lumb 1975; Hendron and and initial height of groundwater table from the bottom of
Patton 1987; Dodagoudar and Venkatachalam 2001; the slope is taken as 4 m in the analysis. The boundary
Rahardjo et al. 2008; Jaiswal et al. 2011). In India, The conditions utilised for the seepage analysis are also
Nilgiris region has frequently confronted with the shown in Fig. 1. The three main rainfall events with
occurrence of slope failures and landslides during rainfall intensities (i.e. boundary fluxes), I = 0.1 ks, 1 ks and 10 ks
leading to several casualties and loss of properties are applied to the surface of slope right after the
(Ganapathy et al. 2010). The process of rain water application of a particular antecedent rainfall during the
infiltration into the soil and its movement in unsaturated analysis of rain-induced slope instability. Along the sides
soils have been studied by hydrologists, geologists and of the slope below the water table, a boundary condition
geotechnical engineers by carrying out the field and equal to the total head is applied.
numerical investigations (Lumb 1962; Philip 1991;
Iversion 2000; Ng et al. 2003; Tsaparas et al. 2003).
The study presented in this paper focuses on correlation
between the stability of soil slopes and rainfall intensity
and duration. Uniform rainfall patterns are used in the
numerical analysis of soil slopes with different durations
and soil conditions. The effects of hydraulic
characteristics of soil, rainfall intensity and duration on
the stability of soil slopes of different densities viz. loose, Fig. 1 Slope geometry and boundary conditions for a
medium and dense are studied. The main rainfall events homogeneous slope
are applied to the slopes right after the application of the
antecedent rainfall. The antecedent rainfall is applied to 2.2 Initial conditions
simulate the initial conditions prevalent just before the Firstly, an antecedent total rainfall of 2000 mm prior to
occurrence of the major rainfall events. This will be the the main rainfall event is applied to the surface of slope
case in most of the residual soil slopes during rainfall in for one year in order to simulate the antecedent
tropical and sub-tropical areas. The variations in pore- groundwater conditions in the slope section. The pore-
water pressure in slopes under different rainfalls are water pressure and the FOS are evaluated at the end of
computed using finite difference analysis (FDA) of the main rainfall events. The plots corresponding to the
transient water flow through unsaturated soils. These above are drawn against the rainfall duration (time) at the
pore-water pressures are then used along with the selected locations in the top and bottom portion of the
strength reduction technique to calculate the factor of slope sections. The Points i.e. A (located 4m from the
safety (FOS). All the finite difference computations have crest of the slope) and B (located 2m from the toe of the
been performed using FLAC. slope) chosen based on the maximum changes in pore
pressure values (Fig. 1). Initially, the pore-water pressure
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 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF RAIN-INDUCED SLOPE INSTABILITY

distribution near the soil surface, after the application of 3.1 Effect of rainfall on pore-water pressure
antecedent rainfall prior to the main rainfall event, is generation
different for different soils depending on the degree of An antecedent total rainfall of 2000 mm (I = 6.43 × 10-8
compaction. m/s) is applied to the slope section up to one year period
in order to simulate the antecedent groundwater
2.3 Soil properties conditions prior to the main rainfall event. Figure 2(a)
The three different soil types namely loose, medium and shows the evolution of pore-water pressure with rainfall
dense are considered to study the response of silty sand duration (i.e. time) for a rainfall intensity, I = 0.1 ks. For
slope subjected to three different rainfall events. The the slope section with loose soil condition [see Fig. 2(a)],
properties of all these soil types are given in Table 1, in at a depth of 4 m from the crest of the slope i.e., Point A,
which ks = saturated permeability, γd = dry unit weight, n the pore pressure increases gradually from -6 kPa at 17 h
= porosity, φ = friction angle and ψ = dilation angle. rainfall to -1 kPa at 48 h rainfall. With increasing rainfall
The shear strength and soil hydraulic properties as given duration, the pore pressure remains constant at -1 kPa up
in Cai and Ugai (2004) are kept constant for all the cases to 84 h rainfall. For the slope section with medium and
to ensure that the changes in stability of slopes are only dense soil conditions, the variations in pore pressures are
attributed to the changes in denseness of the soil. Table 2 not observed at Point A. The pore pressure remains
gives the engineering and hydraulic properties of the soil constant at -6 kPa throughout the duration of the rainfall
slope. (84 h). In the case of medium and dense soils, the
permeabilities and porosities are low thereby restricting
Table-1. Soil properties of the silty sand the infiltration of water in the slope section. Therefore the
matric suction remains at -6 kPa.
γd
Soil ks (m/s) n (-) φ ψ A similar trend in pore pressure variation as observed at
(kN/m3)
Point A is also observed at Point B for the case of loose
Loose 1 × 10-6 15 0.4339 30 0 and dense soil conditions for the rainfall intensity, I = 0.1
Medium 1 × 10 -7
17 0.3584 34 0 ks. However, higher magnitudes of pore pressures are
observed at Point B which is located near to the toe of the
-8
Dense 1 × 10 19 0.2829 39 9 slope. For the medium soil condition, a decrease in pore
pressure is observed for I = 0.1 ks at Point B and there
after the pore pressure remains constant for the remaining
Table-2. Engineering and hydraulic properties of the soil duration of the rainfall.
(after Cai and Ugai 2004)
Figures 2(b) and 2(c) depict the variations of pore
Parameter Value pressure with time for I = 1 ks and I = 10 ks respectively
for all the three soil conditions. The difference in
Young’s modulus, E (MPa) 100
magnitude of pore pressure variations for I = 1 and 10 ks
Poisson’s ratio, υ 0.3 is negligible.
Cohesion, c (kPa) 8
Shape parameter, m 0.4475
Scaling suction, P0 (kPa) 1.411
Residual saturation, θr 0.049

3. Results and Discussion

The three typical rainfall intensities that are possible in
residual soil slopes, i.e. I = 0.1 ks, 1 ks, 10 ks are applied
on the slope section to study the effects of rainfall
intensities on the stability. Before the application of the
main rainfall intensities, an antecedent rainfall of 2000
mm in one year period is applied over the slope section.
The above mentioned rainfall intensities are applied over
the homogeneous soil slopes having three different Fig. 2(a) Variation of pore pressure with time for I
densities namely loose, medium and dense. The results in = 0.1 ks
the form of variations in pore-water pressure distribution The pore pressure at Point A for the slope with loose soil
at Points A and B are provided. The FOS values with condition having I = 1 ks increases gradually from -6 kPa
varying rainfall duration are obtained and provided in the at t = 4 h to 21 kPa at t =17 h. In this case, the gain in
form of plots. pore pressure at Point A is 128 % and is responsible for
the reduction of the FOS of slope to 0.92. It can be stated
that a rain storm of intensity, I = 1 ks occurring for 17 h of
duration is responsible for inducing instability in the

2

slope with loose soil conditions. This particular rainfall
event can be considered as a triggering event for the slope
under consideration.
Indian Geotechnical Conference 2017 - GeoNEst
14-16 December 2017, IIT Guwahati, India
the FOS values remain unchanged over the entire
duration of the rainfall and for the medium soil slope; the
FOS values remain constant after 12 h of rainfall.

Fig. 2(b) Variation of pore pressure with time for I = 1 ks

Fig. 3(a) Variation of factor of safety with time for I = 0.1
At Point B, at time t = 0 h the pore pressures are -3, -0.5 ks
and 0.018 kPa respectively for the slope sections with
Figures 3(b) and 3(c) show the variations of FOS values
loose, medium and dense soil conditions. After the
with time for the intensity of rainfall equal to 1 and 10 ks
application of rainfall intensity of 1 ks, at time t = 17 h,
respectively. For both the intensities, the magnitudes and
the pore pressures are observed to be 6, 6 and 0.02 kPa
trends of FOS values with time is similar. It can be
respectively for slope sections with loose, medium and
observed that for I = 1 ks and I = 10 ks, the variations of
dense soil conditions. It is seen from Figs. 2(b) and 2(c)
pore pressure [see Figs. 2 (b)-(c)] and FOS values are
that for the slope section with loose soil condition, there
almost same.
is 150% increase in the pore pressure and for the medium
soil the increase is 108%. The increase in pore pressures
at Points A and B further increases the wetting front
depth with time thereby bringing the slope to the point of
instability. In the case of dense soil slope, no major
difference in the pore pressure values is observed. This is
attributed to the lower permeability and porosity of the
dense soil.

Fig. 3(b) Variation of factor of safety with time for I = 1

ks
For the slope section with loose soil condition a FOS of
1.7 is obtained at the end of antecedent rainfall duration.
For the same slope with rainfall intensity, I = 1 ks, at the
end of 17 h of rainfall, the FOS value reduced to 0.92
Fig. 2(c) Variation of pore pressure with time for I = 10 ks thereby inducing the instability in the slope. This
situation can be considered as a rain-induced slope failure
3.2 Effect of rainfall on stability of slope for the slope under consideration.
The changes in FOS values with rainfall duration for the
slope sections having loose, medium and dense soil
conditions are shown in Figs. 3(a)-3(d). The rate of
increase in FOS values for the loose and medium soils is
rapid till 48 and 12 h respectively for the rainfall intensity
of 0.1 ks [see Fig. 3(a)]. For the case of dense soil slope,

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 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF RAIN-INDUCED SLOPE INSTABILITY

Hendron, A. J. and Patton, F. D. (1987) The Vaiont slide

- A geotechnical analysis based on new geologic
observations of the failure surface. Engineering
Geology, 24, 475–491.
Iversion, R. M. (2000) Landslide triggering by rainfall
infiltration. Water Resources Research, 36, (7), 1897–
1910.
Jaiswal, P., van Westen, C. J. and Jetten, V. (2011)
Quantitative assessment of landslide hazard along
transportation lines using historical records. Landslides,
8, 279–291.
Lumb, P. (1962) Effect of rain storms on slope stability.
Proceedings of the Symposium on Hong Kong Soils,
Hong Kong, 73–87.
Fig. 3(c) Variation of factor of safety with time for I = 10
Lumb, P. (1975) Slope failures in Hong Kong. Quarterly
ks
Journal of Engineering Geology, 8, 31–65.
4. Conclusions
Ng, C.W.W., Zhan, L. T., Bao, C. G., Fredlund, D. G.
The numerical simulations of rain-induced instability
and Gong, B. W. (2003) Performance of an unsaturated
have been performed with finite difference method using
expansive soil slope subjected to artificial rainfall
FLAC for various intensities of rainfall equal to 0.1, 1
infiltration. Geotechnique, 53, (2), 143–157.
and 10 ks are considered for the stability analysis. The
variations of pore-water pressure and factor of safety Philip, J. R. (1991) Hillslope infiltration: planar slopes.
under these three rainfall intensities are evaluated for the Water Resources Research, 22, (1), 109-117.
unsaturated-saturated slope sections having loose,
Rahardjo, H., Leong, E. C. and Rezaur, R. B. (2008)
medium and dense soil conditions. Based on the results
Effect of antecedent rainfall on pore-water pressure
presented in the paper, the following conclusions are
distribution characteristics in residual soil slopes under
drawn:
tropical rainfall. Hydrological Processes, 22, 506–523.
 For the slope with loose soil condition, the increase in
Rahimi, A., Rahardjo, H. and Leong E. (2011) Effect of
pore-water pressure is more as compared to the slopes
antecedent rainfall patterns on rainfall-induced slope
with medium and dense soil conditions for all the
failure. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvirontmental
rainfall intensities.
Engineering, 137, 5, 483-491.
 The rate of change in pore-water pressure is faster for Tsaparas, I., Rahardjo, H., Toll, D. G. and Leong, E.
the slope with loose soil condition followed by the (2003) Infiltration characteristics of two instrumented
slopes with medium and dense soil conditions. residual soil slopes. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 40,
 For lower rainfall intensity considered in this study, the 1012–1032.
rate of decrease in FOS value is faster for the slope
with medium soil condition followed by the slopes
with loose and dense soil conditions.
 Failure is observed for loose soil slope having intensity
equal to the saturated hydraulic conductivity of the soil.
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