Study of the multi-critical parameters characterizing the instability behavior of translational rockslides considering the excavation

Abstract

Translational rockslides caused by toe excavation are one of the commonly seen geohazards in mountainous regions due to line traffic construction. Quantifying their failure extension length (FEL) and travel distance is of significant interest as well as huge challenges in landslide hazard assessment. In this paper, a simple criterion is proposed for predicting these two factors based on the principles of rigid body limit equilibrium and kinetic energy theorem. Further, the proposed criterion is validated against the field observations and numerical results with a practical case of the Xinjianan landslide, a medium-sized translational rockslide that occurred in 2013 in Nanchuan District, Chongqing. The findings indicate that a tiny discrepancy can be found in FEL between the field observations and the proposed criteria, while this discrepancy could be considerable in travel distance between different methods. However, the relative discrepancies all fall within 20%, deemed acceptable.