Journal Pre-proof

Deformation mechanisms and evolution of a pile-reinforced

landslide under long-term reservoir operation

Dongzi Liu, Xinli Hu, Chang Zhou, Chu Xu, Chuncan He, Han
Zhang, Qiang Wang

PII: S0013-7952(19)32343-9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2020.105747
Reference: ENGEO 105747

To appear in: Engineering Geology

Received date: 14 December 2019

Revised date: 24 June 2020
Accepted date: 24 June 2020

Please cite this article as: D. Liu, X. Hu, C. Zhou, et al., Deformation mechanisms and
evolution of a pile-reinforced landslide under long-term reservoir operation, Engineering
Geology (2019), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2020.105747

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© 2019 Published by Elsevier.

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Deformation mechanisms and evolution of a pile-reinforced landslide

under long-term reservoir operation

Dongzi Liu, Xinli Hu * , Chang Zhou, Chu Xu, Chuncan He, Han Zhang, Qiang Wang

Faculty of Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074,

P.R. China
* Corresponding author: Tel./Fax: +86-27-67883507;
Institutional email address: huxinli@cug.edu.cn

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Abstract
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Stabilizing piles are widely used for reinforcing landslides in the Three Gorges
Reservoir area, China. Due to reservoir operations, long-term water-level fluctuatio ns
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(WLFs) may cause instability or failure of the reservoir landslide and piles system
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(RLPS). This study experimentally investigated the deformation characteristics and

mechanisms of the RLPS under long-term WLFs. The results showed that long- term
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WLFs led to loading and unloading cycles and consequently a weakening of the slope
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stability, where retrogressive failure and system instability were observed .

Retrogressive failure at the slope toe was caused by topographical variation and
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physical and mechanical deterioration, which may be a result of the long-term WLFs.
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System instability was accompanied by a stress-release process above the new slip
surface and was determined to be dependent on the geological structure of the RLPS.
Based on this investigation, the evolution model of the pile-reinforced landslide under

long-term WLFs was proposed. Even though the RLPS was adversely affected by the
long-term WLFs, it maintained a relatively steady state due to the reinforcement of the
piles. Effective pile installation changed the development of the reservoir landslides
and prevented the entire slip surface from reaching a critical state. Thus, a catastrophic
consequence was avoided, except for the local failure. Through physical modeling, this

study experimentally provided a deeper understanding of the deformation mechanis ms

and evolution of the RLPS influenced by the long-term WLFs.
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Keywords: physical modeling, pile-reinforced reservoir landslide, long-term water-

level fluctuations, deformation mechanism, evolution model

1. Introduction
In the Three Gorges Reservoir area, a large number of slopes are currently unstable (Liu
et al. 2004, Gu et al. 2017, He et al., 2020). Because of this, some slopes that are a

danger to the lives and property of residents as well as reservoir operations have been
stabilized (Hu et al. 2017). Among the stabilizing methods, which includes anchor

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cables and retaining walls, piles have become one of the most important techniques as

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it is of predominant use in engineering practices over the past decades (Kanagasabai et
al. 2011, Ashour and Ardalan 2012). Consequently, the system formed by landslides
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and piles, termed the reservoir landslide and piles system (RLPS), is widely distributed
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in this area.
The RLPS is exposed to the reservoir operation, which poses a potential danger to
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the stability of the RLPS (Du et al. 2013, Sun et al. 2016, Song et al. 2018). Researchers
believe that reservoir landslides are affected by the initial impoundment and annual
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water-level fluctuations (WLFs) (Wang et al. 2014). The initial impounding of the
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Three Gorges Reservoir in 2003 reactivated a large number of landslides (Qi et al. 2006,
Wang et al. 2013), including the widely-known Shuping and Qianjiangping landslides
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(Wang et al. 2008, Yin et al. 2015). After 2003, numerous in-situ monitoring results
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showed that the annual WLFs induced step-like deformation characteristics associated

with reservoir landslides (Tang et al. 2015, Zhang et al. 2018, Yao et al. 2019). At
present, the Three Gorges Reservoir has been in operation for only 16 years, wherein
there have been 9 WLFs between 145 m and 175 m above sea level (Yin et al. 2016).
In the future, long-term annual WLFs will be one of the most critical factors in the
stability evaluation of the RLPS (Tang et al. 2019).

Currently, research methods in this field mainly involve in-situ monitoring (Sun et
al. 2014, Zhang et al. 2018, Song et al. 2018), and numerical (Paronuzzi et al. 2013,
Sun et al. 2016, Alonso and Pinyol 2016) and physical modeling (Yan et al. 2010, He
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et al. 2018, Hu et al. 2019). However, the cost of in-situ monitoring is often prohibitive
for use in research where monitoring data must be collected over a long span, such as
years or decades. Additionally, although the numerical modeling is repeatable, it is hard

to implement the real-time response of soil conditions to the hydraulic boundary

conditions during landslide evolution.
Conversely, as a practical and effective method (Luo et al. 2010, Iverson 2015, Zhang
et al. 2017), physical modeling may reproduce the process of landslide occurrence and
characterize the landslide information in an inherently natural way (He et al. 2018). Jia

et al. (2009) indicated that the failure model of an unreinforced landslide during rapid

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drawdown is a multiple retrogressive rotational type. Miao et al. (2018) estimated that
the stability of an unreinforced reservoir landslide would become gradually worse over
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long-term cyclic reservoir operation. However, although many 1g or ng physical
models have been performed (Mei et al. 2009, Wang and Zhang 2014, Li et al. 2016),
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pile-reinforced reservoir landslides subjected to long-term WLFs are rarely simula ted.
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Thus, there has not been a supported experimental conclusion regarding the influe nce
of WLFs on the RLPS.
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In this study, an experimental method considering the influences of long-term WLFs

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on the RLPS was proposed. The deformation characteristics of the RLPS under long-

term WLFs were reproduced, and deformation mechanisms were revealed through
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physical modeling. According to our results, we developed a model that can provide
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insight into the evolution of the pile-reinforced landslides influenced by the long- term
reservoir operations.

2. Experimental method
Herein, an experimental method considering the influences of long-term WLFs on the
RLPS is proposed, consisting of an experimental platform, physical model and material,
a monitoring system, and experimental process.

2.1 Experimental platform

As shown in Fig. 1, the experimental platform consists of a platform frame, a loading
system, and a water-level control system. The platform frame is made of steel to provide
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adequate counterforce. The loading system is composed of a hydraulic ram, pressure

sensor, and thrust plate, which are employed to achieve infliction, monitoring, and
transmission of the driving force, respectively. Further, the water-level control system

accomplished impounding and drawdown in the range of 0–50 cm. There, two
flowmeters were used to record the flow and ensure the same velocity of the WLFs.

2.2 Physical model and materials

The physical model included the sliding mass, sliding zone, and bedrock, as well as the
piles (Figs. 1, 2, and 3c). The model was sized 236 cm long and 100 cm wide with

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sliding mass and sliding zone thicknesses of 36 cm and 4 cm, respectively. The slope

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gradient of the sliding zone was 9° at the slope toe and 15° everywhere else. The piles
were positioned 80 cm from the thrust plate, embedded into bedrock at 20 cm depth,
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with a 57 cm long and 5.0 cm × 7.5 cm cross-section. After the piles were installed, the
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model was constructed above the bedrock through layer-by-layer tamping with a
thickness of 5 cm.
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The sliding mass was composed of sand, clay, bentonite, and water (62.5:28.5:5.1:8),
and the sliding zone was composed of glass beads, clay, and water at a ratio of 15:8:2,
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which determined the physical and mechanical parameters of the model materials, as
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summarized in Table 1. Sand, as the coarse aggregate, was used to adjust parameters
including cohesion, internal friction angle, and the permeability coefficient. Clay, as the
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fine aggregate, was used to increase cohesion and decrease the permeability coefficie nt.
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Bentonite was used to reduce the deformation modulus. The glass beads, which are 1 –

2 mm in diameter, were used to achieve a weaker shear strength. Further, polyuretha ne

with a 3 GPa elastic modulus, which is a flexible material that works under finite
deformation, was employed to simulate an elastic pile. Additionally, bedrock was built
by laying bricks covered by cement to ensure high strength and an impermeable surface
(Liu et al. 2020).

Table 1. Material parameters of the model

Nature unit Nature state Saturated state Elastic modulus

Material
weight (kN/m3 ) c/(kPa) φ/ (°) c/(kPa) φ/ (°) (MPa)
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Sliding mass 22.1 3.9 23.8 3.51 21.42 20

Sliding zone 17.1 5.6 18.1 5.04 16.29 -

2.3 Monitoring system

This monitoring system can obtain different information, including stress, seepage, and
deformation (Figs. 1, 2, and 3).
As shown in Fig. 2, the stress and seepage monitoring process included 34 soil

pressure cells arranged in 7 groups (Ⅰ–Ⅳ, F, B, and H), and 7 pore water pressure gauges
(P1–P7) installed along the center axis. The monitoring information was collected by a

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data logger.

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For the deformation monitoring, there were three subdivided parts consisting of the
surface displacement and subsurface deformation of the sliding mass and strain of the
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pile shaft. Information acquisition of the sliding mass deformation was achieved using
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imaging techniques, such as cameras and 3D laser scanners, to record the location
changes of tracer points (Figs. 1 and 2). For example, the acquisition of subsurface
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deformation was obtained by camera Ⅲ (Fig. 3a). By overlapping the photographs

recorded at different moments, the location changes of tracer points (white circular caps
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with 3 cm diameters) over the whole section were displayed. Then, their locations were
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fitted by the circles and represented by the centers, and subsurface deformation curves
were finally obtained by connecting these centers in sequence (Fig. 3b). Additiona lly,
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the strain of the pile shaft was measured by strain gauges fixed symmetrically on both
sides of the piles. The specific layouts are shown in Fig. 3c.

2.4 Experimental process

In the experimental process, WLFs under different landslide pushing forces during the
landslide evolution were achieved, wherein the landslide pushing force was simula ted

by a driving force (Fig. 4). Note that multi-period WLFs always leads to the physical
and mechanical deterioration of rock and soil mass, thereby decreasing its stability and
increasing the landslide pushing force (Qi et al. 2006, Jian et al. 2009, Pinyol et al.
2012). However, it is difficult for WLFs in physical modeling under a reduced scale to
reproduce these similar effects. Therefore, it may not be practical to continuously apply
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WLFs without artificially changing the stress state. In this study, to achieve a more
reasonable stress boundary condition after several WLFs, a constant increment to the
driving force was added. Specifically, the driving force (4–9 kN) was increased per

stage (1 kN). Note that 5 WLFs in one stage were conducted, wherein both the stress
and hydraulic boundary conditions were implemented step-by-step (Ma et al. 2017, He
et al. 2018). Each step (0.5 kN) of driving force takes 1 h and involves two sub-steps
(loading and then maintaining), and each WLF takes 2 h and involves four sub-steps
(drawdown, lowest water-level, impounding, and highest water-level). Note that every

sub-step lasts for 0.5 h.

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3. Results and Analyses

3.1 Deformation characteristics of RLPS under long-term WLFs

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Herein, based on the 3D laser scanning technology, the point clouds at differe nt
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moments were superimposed, and variations of the model profiles were drawn (Fig. 5).
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The results showed the different deformation characteristics in three regions: the

upstream and downstream of the piles, and the slope toe. Through the macro
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observations and monitoring results, the deformation characteristics of the RLPS under
long-term WLFs were investigated thoroughly based on surface deformatio n,
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subsurface deformation, and pile deformation.

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3.1.1 Surface deformation

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The gross horizontal displacements for surface deformation are shown in Fig. 6.
Overall, all curves featured a similar step-like shape, and the displacement was

contributed mainly by the driving force. Additionally, the farther the distance from the
trailing edge, the smaller the gross displacements. The displacements at the upstream
of piles (27, 23, and 20) were always approximately 2–4 times more than that at the
downstream of the piles (18 and 14). This means that the piles were a boundary of the
displacement distributions on the model surface.

Additionally, macro observations were investigated in detail, revealing:

(1) Surface deformation at the upstream of piles
With the driving force continuously increasing, the uplift behavior became gradually
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conspicuous (Fig. 5). Meanwhile, the corresponding surface deformations, which

involved peeling, cracks, and collapse, simultaneously and continuously occurred (Fig.
7).

At 25.5 h into the test, inconspicuous uplift and peeling appeared on the model
surface when the driving force increased to 5 kN. At 37.0 h, an uplift of 5 cm occurred
with severe soil peeling. Then, at 49.0 h, the uplift reached 10 cm high, and a transverse
tension crack approximately 50 cm long and 1 cm wide developed with some
longitudinal branches. At 71.0 h, new longitudinal and transverse cracks, approximate ly

50 cm long and 0.5 cm wide, respectively, appeared on the model surface. At 78.0 h,

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when the driving force reached 9 kN, the uplift was approximately 20 cm high, and all
of the tension cracks were widening, including a transverse crack approximately 2 cm
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wide, and a longitudinal crack approximately 1 cm wide running through the surface.
Finally, partial peeling collapsed at the upstream of the piles.
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Crack evolution was closely related to the deformation intensity during modeling,
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especially at 49.0 h, where a large-scale crack occurred corresponding to a violent

displacement surge.
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(2) Surface deformation at the slope toe

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The long-term WLFs remolded the terrain strongly at the slope toe. The deformatio n

characteristic of this region was progressively retrogressive, reflected by the backward

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variations of the terrain boundary (Fig. 8). The manifestation of retrogressive failure
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involved scarp and erosion, which subsequently determined whether the tension cracks
formed at the boundary. A typical phenomenon of landscape evolution of the wading
slopes was successfully simulated (Cendrero and Dramis, 1996).

As shown in Fig. 8a, erosion generated little topographical change under the fir st
WLF. However, as the cycles of WLFs increased, the terrain was gradually reshaped,
and the slope was enlarged (Fig. 8b). During the 18 and 19 drawdowns, two small-sca le
scarps developed as a result of the recurrent erosion. These scarps caused the slope to
increase further, demonstrating the close relationship between erosion and scarp (Figs.

8f and g). After 20 WLFs, the slope reached approximately 50°, which is much larger
than the internal friction angle of the soil (Fig. 8c). During the 27th drawdown, overly
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steep terrain resulted in a tension crack of 50 cm, which quickly separated the sliding
mass. Approximately 2 min later, the largest-scale scarp occurred with a volume of
approximately 50 cm × 50 cm × 40 cm (Fig. 8h). After this event, no further scarp was

built up even though the WLFs continued. This could be a result of the debris
accumulating at the slope toe and acting in a protective capacity (Fig. 8d).
Overall, the retrogressive failure at the slope toe, which included both erosion and
scarp, involved a long-term deformation phase. Erosion lasted and led to a steeper
surface, thereby allowing the cumulative topographical change to cause further scarps,

putting the stability of the whole system at risk (Lehmann and Or 2012, Luo and Zhang

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2016).

3.1.2 Subsurface deformation

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Based on the analyses of surface deformation, three periods, which all have a surge
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of surface displacement when loading under the highest water level, were selected to
analyze the subsurface deformation.
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The subsurface deformation had corresponding characteristics with the surface

deformation (Figs. 5 and 6), including the fact that the tracer points at the upstream of
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the piles had upward location changes and their angle with the bedrock increased
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continually. Additionally, the shape variation of the subsurface deformation curve in

column 9 was more remarkable than those in columns 6, 5, and 3. These results explain
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the connection between soil movement and uplift behavior at the upstream of the piles,
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and the deformation discontinuity of the whole sliding mass due to pile installation.
For the sliding mass at the upstream of piles, as shown in Fig. 9a, the portion close
to the thrust plate was compressed along the sliding zone, while there was
inconspicuous uplift in other areas, causing a volume-contraction. Note that when the
sliding mass reached certain compactness and the piles were bent, the location changes

of tracer points were upward, making the volume-dilatation increase (Fig. 9b), as shown
in Fig. 9c, the soil movement had a dramatic radian, the restriction of the piles was
diminished, and eventually, the sliding mass was extruded out along the pile shaft.
In the sliding mass at the downstream of the piles, the relative dislocation between
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tracer points in the same columns appeared and extended forward during modeling, as
observed in columns 6, 5, and 3 (Fig. 9a, b, and c). Here, the sliding mass was gradually
damaged along a new slip surface with a slope of about 20°. Additionally, the location

of the tracer points below this new slip surface almost remained motionless, indicating
that the piles gave a significant contribution to the stability of the original slip surface.

3.1.3 Pile deformation

During modeling, the positions of the free end of the piles moved forward continua lly,
but their shape variations could not be observed because they were buried. After

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modeling, we excavated the sliding mass and found that the piles were bent severely,

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with a rotation angle of 23° at the fixed end and 35° at the free end where the

displacement reached 17 cm (Fig. 10). Also, the finite deformation of the piles
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negatively affected the deformation of the surrounding soil. For the sliding mass at the
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upstream of the piles, there was more intense pile bending and more diminished anti-
slide performance. Meanwhile, for the sliding mass at the downstream, a displaceme nt
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boundary condition was imposed, resulting in a new slip surface.

According to the monitoring results of the longitudinal strain at the upslope and
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downslope sides of the monitored piles, recorded as 𝜀1 and 𝜀2 , respectively, the

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curvature 1/𝜌 is obtained by:

1 𝜀 1 −𝜀 2
,
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=
𝜌 𝑦
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where 𝑦 is the distance in m between two gauges (SB - SF).

Further, the bending moment 𝑀 is obtained by:
𝐸𝐼
𝑀= ,
𝜌∙1000

where EI is the flexural rigidity of the pile (kN·m2 ).

The bending moment of the piles during modeling is shown in Fig. 11. The results
suggest that the distribution shape of the bending moment along the depth is shaped
like a triangle, and the maximum value appeared at the sliding zone (SB3 - SF3) (Hu et

al. 2019). Further, after 25 h of modeling, the driving force reached 4 kN, and the
bending moment increased below SB4 - SF4, while the bending moment was negative
above SB4 - SF4 with the intensity of the pile bending increasing and the portion with
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positive bending moment extended upward. After 48.5 h, the values of the bending
moment became positive all over the pile shaft.
These results reveal the interaction between the piles and the soil. The evolution of

the bending moment is related to soil deformation at the downstream of the piles. As
the piles bend, the passive soil pressure at the downstream of piles stands in the way
until the soil is destroyed. Pile deformation led to soil instability at the downstream of
the piles (Fig. 9), and the soil failure induced the substantial increment of pile
deformation (Fig. 11). Additionally, the full forward bending of the pile shaft at 48.5 h

led to a resistance reduction, which resulted in a surge of surface displacement and a

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large-scale crack at the upstream of the piles (Figs. 6 and 7).

3.2 Deformation mechanisms induced by the long-term WLFs

3.2.1 Retrogressive failure

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The periodic WLFs resulted in the variation of water tables during modeling, wherein,
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water tables were approximated by the pore water pressure obtained at differe nt
positions. Considering that the control of the hydraulic boundary condition in the model
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was divided into four sub-steps, the water tables at the end of these sub-steps (a, b, c,
and d) were obtained. According to these four water tables, the water table variatio n
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zone was further divided into three parts, A1, A2, and A3 (Fig. 12). Due to the influe nce
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of hydraulic conductivity of soil, the responses of the water tables to WLFs were not
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synchronous. A1 and A3, located in the front and back of the water table variation zone,
respectively, resulted from the impounding and drawdown and were determined to be
lag zones where the water table continued to vary even when the hydraulic boundary
was unchanged. The area of A1 was much smaller than A2, causing the response of

water tables to impounding to be more sensitive. However, although A3 was also narrow,
the lowest water table (t = c) was not close at the bedrock but at a certain height. Thus,
the model was easily infiltrated and difficult to drain. It was verified that the more
obvious lags and outward seepages were caused by relatively insufficient subsurface
drainage, which may have induced soil instability under drawdowns (Xia et al. 2013).

During drawdowns, coarse particles slid down and the water became muddy. Further,
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it was revealed that the outward seepage carried fine particles, resulting in long- term
physical and mechanical deterioration (Ke and Takahashi 2012, Sato and Kuwano
2015). This was verified by both the seepage failure and the flow soil and headward

erosion during drawdowns (Fig. 13). Given the low soil compactness due to the wires
present in the model, this imperceptible mechanism was clearly expressed.
Based on the monitoring results of the soil pressures of Ⅰ and Ⅱ, we found that WLFs
created regular variations of soil pressure differences between them (Fig. 14). During
each WLF, the soil pressure difference increased within the first 30 min. However,

according to the results of water table response, within the first 20 min, the pore water

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pressure at position Ⅰ had already reduced to null. Therefore, given the measured value
of the soil pressure cell consisting of effective stress and pore water pressure, it was
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believed that the effective stress at this position at 20–30 min likely decreased
qualitatively induced outward seepage (Carey and Petley 2014).
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Furthermore, the variation of the effective stress (< 1 kPa) was not determina nt.
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Therefore, its negative influence on soil stability was determined to be not crucial in
the short run, which provided evidence of the dangers of long-term WLFs. In this case,
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the long-term effective stress variation caused by WLFs resulted in the physical and
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mechanical deterioration of the soil and was likely the cause of the retrogressive failure.

Finally, given the low soil pressure at the slope toe (i.e., Ⅰ), we believe that the
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retrogressive failure here may be related to the driving force contributed by only the
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long-term WLFs. Additionally, the occurrence of the retrogressive failure in our

modeling did not cause instability in the whole RLPS. In this context, the susceptibility
of the retrogressive failure may be high, but the negative impact is limited.

3.2.2 System instability

As shown in Fig. 15a, the instability of the whole RLPS was triggered by the

drawdown. As a result, the subsequent subsurface deformation was consistent with that
caused by the driving force. Note that the drawdown had more negative impacts to the
entire system than retrogressive failure, and therefore to distinguish it from
retrogressive failure, we call it ‘system instability’.
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The system instability was accompanied by soil movement along the new slip surface
(Fig. 15a). Considering the internal friction angle (16°) of the original sliding zone in
the saturated state, the slope gradient (9°) was gentle, and its stability was relative ly

high. However, the slope gradient of the new slip surface was approximately 20°, which
approximated the internal friction angles of the sliding mass (21°). Thus, the new mass
was more slide-prone, and the water-level drawdown induced the soil movement along
the new mass instead of the original one, accelerating the development of a new slip
surface. This development was a result of the combined effects of the driving force and

WLFs, which reflected the interaction of deformation due to different boundary

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conditions. The monitoring results of the bending moment showed that how the pile
reacted determined if a water-level drawdown would trigger system instability, e.g., the
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differences between t0 ~ t0 + ∆t0 and t1 ~ t1 + ∆t1 (Fig. 15b). Given that pile
deformation was affected by soil deformation at the downstream of the piles, it was
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concluded that drawdown, through triggering the soil movement along the new slip
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surface, induced the pile deformation and eventually, system instability.

According to the monitoring results of soil pressure, we found that the soil pressure
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at Ⅱ increased due to loading and decreased due to WLFs, which indicated the
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phenomenon of stress-release (Fig. 16). Stress-release is caused by the deformation or

failure of geological materials. In our test, deformed row piles applied additional stress
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to the sliding mass at the downstream of the piles in a limited range, which made the
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sliding mass near the ultimate limit state. When the water level dropped, the stability of
the new slip surface decreased, and the sliding mass moved forward along this surface.
Hence, the additional stress was released, and the sliding mass returned to a stable state.

Repeatedly, the loading and unloading cycles resulted in multiple system instabilities
and the forward expansion of this surface. Note that the soil pressure at Ⅰ experienced
little change, i.e., the stress-release only occurred at the region that had the slide-prone
surface. Given that this surface had not yet reached the slope toe, the unbroken portion
maintained high integrity even though a retrogressive failure developed there, leading

to differences in the soil pressures of Ⅰ and Ⅱ. Overall, the system instability, which was
triggered by WLFs, was based on the geological structure of the system itself, and the
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slide-prone surface played a critical role in this process.

3.3 Evolution model of the RLPS under long-term WLFs

Du et al. (2013) showed two typical colluvial landslides without piles: retrogressive
(Fig. 17a) and advancing (Fig. 17b). Both showed the characteristics of landslide
development from local to global and had evolution modes under different boundary
conditions. However, some of reservoir landslides were found to have both

retrogressive and advancing characteristics simultaneously. For example, the advancing

landslides under WLFs or the retrogressive landslides under loading. The landslides

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tend to develop from different regions and eventually occur after the whole slip surface

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reaches a critical state (Fig. 17c). Regardless of the evolution model, the failure of
landslides without piles occurs along the same slip surface.
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The RLPS in our model was subjected to a complicated deformation period under a
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high-level driving force (9 kN) and long-term WLFs (29 cycles). As a result, the RLPS
was retrogressive at the region subjected to long-term WLFs and was advancing at the
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region subjected to loading. In comparison with the reservoir landslides without piles
(Fig 17c), the evolution modes of the pile-reinforced reservoir landslides were differe nt
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(Fig 17d). While soil at the upstream of the piles was compressed, the piles obstructed
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the pushing force transmitting forward, and mitigated the horizontal ground
deformation. Thus, the advancing and retrogressive ranges were significantly limi ted,
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and the interaction effects between the deformations induced by different boundary
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conditions became weaker throughout the whole process. More specifically, the uplift

at the upstream of the piles, the slip at the downstream of the piles, and the scarp at the
slope toe did not cause catastrophic consequences. Eventually, we found that the
original slip surface was not in the critical state. Thus, except for the local failure, a
catastrophic consequence was avoided.
We discreetly defined this system in a “steady” state and believe that this state was

precisely based on pile stability. However, by using the same physical model, the
driving force of the advancing landslide without piles (generalized as the model shown
in Fig. 17b) could bear approximately 2 kN (Hu et al. 2019). If a hydraulic boundary
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condition is applied at the slope toe (further developed to the model as shown in Fig.
17c), the driving force could be lower. In conclusion, under long-term WLFs, effective
pile installation changed the evolution model of the reservoir landslides and prevented

the entire slip surface from reaching a critical state. Therefore, the long-term stability
of the reservoir landslides was largely enhanced.

4. Discussion
This study considered the geological and engineering scenario of landslides in the
Three Gorges Reservoir area as an example, but the obtained results should not be

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limited to this area. Jones et al. (1961) found more than 500 landslides based on an

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investigation from 1941 to 1953 in the Grand Coulee reservoir in Washington, USA.
Nakamura (1990) noted that approximately 60% of reservoir landslides in Japan
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occurred under drawdown. The monitoring results of the Canelles Reservoir in Spain
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(Pinyol et al., 2012) indicated that WLFs have long-term adverse effects on the slope.
Globally, the influences of WLFs on the long-term stability of slopes are not yet solved.
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As reservoir operations continue, reservoir landslides (stabilized with piles) around the
world will continue to face problems.
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The physical modeling used in this study can provide insight into these problems. In
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previous studies using this method, most of the physical models were designed to be
unstable, and failure was observed over a short span, within one or several WLFs. These
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models were only used to achieve studies regarding “stability” but not “long- ter m
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stability”. For instance, Jia et al. (2009) established a physical model using sandy silt

with an internal friction angle of 30°, and the gradient of slope surface was 45°.
However, in terms of model design in their study, the slope of the sliding zone was 9°
while the internal friction angle was 16° in the saturated state, therefore, this model was
stable in the short term. Also, from the perspective of the experimental process, the
hydraulic boundary condition of 29 WLFs proved to be a good simulation of the

influences of long-term reservoir operation on the RLPS. As a result, landslide

evolution was well reproduced, and this model showed a long-term weakening process
of landslide stability, where topography, strength, and geological structure
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spontaneously responded. The conclusions made in this study (e.g., deformatio n

mechanisms of the RLPS subjected to the long-term WLFs) may be obtained only using
a model with these specific characteristics. Therefore, the proposed experime nta l

method is appropriate for researching the long-term influences of WLFs.

5. Conclusion
This study proposed an experimental method to consider the influences of long- term

WLFs on the RLPS. The deformation characteristics of the RLPS subjected to long-
term WLFs were reproduced, and deformation mechanisms were revealed. Then, the

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evolution model was proposed based on the physical modeling. The main conclus io ns

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are as follows:
1. The RLPS under long-term WLFs showed different deformation characteristics
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at each region: uplift at the upstream of the piles, slip at the downstream of the
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piles, and scarp at the slope toe.
2. Long-term WLFs led to loading and unloading cycles and a consequent
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weakening of the slope stability, where retrogressive failure and system

instability were observed.
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3. Retrogressive failure at the slope toe was triggered by topographical change and
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physical and mechanical deterioration. This may have been the result of long-
term WLFs; however, the negative impact was limited for the RLPS.
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4. System instability is accompanied by stress-release in the deformed soil above

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the new slip surface, and is dependent on the geological structure of the RLPS.

Note that this instability was more detrimental to the stability of the entire system.
5. The evolution model of the pile-reinforced landslide under the long-term WLFs
was proposed. Effective pile installation changed the evolution of the reservoir
landslides. Thus, the stability of reservoir landslides was largely enhanced.

Acknowledgments
This study was funded by the Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of
China (41630643), and the National Key Research and Development Program of China,
China (2017YFC1501302). The authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. Wenbo Zheng and
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Dr. Ru Fu for their support in manuscript editing.

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Author Statement

The all authors’ individual contributions are as follows:

Dongzi Liu: Physical modeling, Investigation, Formal analysis, Resources and Writing-
Original draft preparation, Graphing.

Xinli Hu: Project administration and Funding acquisition.

Chang Zhou: Physical modeling- Design & Preparation.

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Chu Xu: Physical modeling- Preparation & Implementation.

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Chuncan He: Physical modeling- Implementation.
Han Zhang: Writing - Review & Editing.
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Qiang Wang: Physical modeling- Method improvement.
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Declaration of interests

√☐ The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests

or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported

in this paper.

☐The authors declare the following financial interests/personal

relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:

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List of Figures

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Fig. 1 Schematic of experimental platform, composed of a platform frame,
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loading system, and water-level control system, and physical model, which

includes the geological elements expressed within the blue frame. Note the
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positions of the 3D laser scanner and cameras.

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Fig. 2 Schematic of the monitoring system. Soil pressure cells are labeled as
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Ⅰ – Ⅳ , F , B , and H ; pore water pressure gauges are numbered ( P1 to P7 ); and

the tracer points at the surface and side face of the sliding mass are
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numbered from 1 to 29 and 1 to 11 , respectively.

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Fig. 3 (a) Lateral view of the model. (b) Schematic of tracer points and (c)
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strain gauges.
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Fig. 4 Driving force and water-level fluctuations

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Fig. 5 Schematic of model profiles at different times. Tracer points 27 , 23 ,

20 , 19 , 18 , and 14 positions are marked in the original profile.

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Fig. 6 Gross horizontal displacement in the region above the highest water

level.
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Fig. 7 Surface deformation at the upstream of the piles. Note peeling, cracks,

and collapse.
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Fig. 8 Time series diagrams of erosion and scarp development at the slope toe.
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Numbers from a to d and from f to g represent, respectively, terrain changes

due to erosion and scarp development.

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Fig. 9 Soil movement at the upstream of the piles and the development of the

slip surface at their downstream. Subsurface deformation curves are fitted in

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the insets of each figure.

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Fig. 10 Shape of the pile shaft at the end of the experiments.

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Fig. 11 Bending moment evolution

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Fig. 12 Water table response to multiple water-level fluctuations.

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Fig. 13 Seepage failure under a drawdown.

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Fig. 14 Pore water pressure and soil pressure under the first seven water-

level fluctuations.

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Fig. 15 (a) System instability induced by the water-level drawdown and (b)

corresponding variations of bending moment.

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Fig. 16 Stress-release during water-level fluctuations at monitoring point Ⅱ .

Obtained trend lines eliminate the influences of pore water pressure on soil

pressure by connecting monitoring values at the beginning and ending of WLFs.

Red and blue trend lines represent the changes of soil pressure due to loading

and water-level fluctuations, respectively.

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Fig. 17 Schematics of evolution models: (a) retrogressive landslide, and (b)

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advancing landslide (Du et al. 2013); (c) landslide with retrogressive and
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advancing characteristics; (d) pile-reinforced landslide under long-term

water-level fluctuations.
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Highlights
1. An experimental method was proposed to consider the influences of the long- term
water-level fluctuations on the pile-reinforced reservoir landslide.
2. The deformation characteristics of the pile-reinforced landslide under long- term
reservoir operation were analyzed.
3. The deformation mechanisms induced by the loading and unloading cycles of the

stress under the long-term water-level fluctuations were revealed.

4. A model was introduced to provide insights into the evolution of the pile-reinfo rced

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landslides influenced by the long-term reservoir operation.

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