Mechanism of a rainfall-induced landslide in a large-scale flume experiment on a weathered granite sand

Abstract

A large-scale flume experiment was performed to evaluate the mechanism of landslide occurrence due to rainfall using weathered granite sand. The dimensions of the flume were 9 m (length), 1 m (width), and 1 m (depth). The weathered granite sand from the actual landslide site at Da Nang City, Vietnam was used. The pore water pressure was measured by a pore-water pressure transducer at two depths (middle and bottom) to determine the process of rainwater infiltration into the soil. The surface deformation was measured with extensometers at three positions of the slope. The deformation of the entire slope was determined by the 160 cylindrical-shaped makers evenly spaced in the slope and three cameras. The results showed that the rainfall infiltrated into the slope process, increasing from negative pore water pressure to approximately 0. The maximum shear strain contour has been plotted in total and in time increments. The shear band was detected from the time increments maximum shear strain contour. The localization in the shear band formed just before failure. To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest scale laboratory test ever conducted to calculate the shear band. Moreover, it was found that the failure occurred when the sand was in an unsaturated phase. Failure does not seem to depend on the increase in pore water pressure but on the maximum shear strain. This feature can be used to explain the phenomenon of landslides that occur even when the groundwater level does not increase but large deformation occurs.