Use of low-cost accelerometers for landslides monitoring: results from a flume experiment

Early Warning Systems (EWS) are non-structural measures for landslides disaster prevention. They are based on the detection of impending failure signals. The results of a landslide simulation experiment where accelerometers were used to identify pre-failure signals are presented in this paper. Landslide was simulated in a tilting flume filled...

Hydro-mechanical analysis of a surficial landslide triggered by artificial rainfall: The Ruedlingen field experiment

This paper interprets the hydromechanical behaviour of a steep, forested, instrumented slope during an artificial rainfall event, which triggered a shallow slope failure 15 h after rainfall initiation. The soil's mechanical response has been simulated by coupled hydro-mechanical finite-element analyses, using a critical state constitutive...

Large-scale physical modelling of static liquefaction in gentle submarine slopes

Planning a monitoring campaign for a natural submarine slope prone to static liquefaction is a challenging task due to the sudden nature of flow slides. Therefore, gaining a better insight by monitoring the changes in pore pressure and acceleration of the soil mass, prior to and at the onset of static liquefaction, of submerged model slopes...

Ultimate lateral pressures exerted on buried pipelines by the initiation of submarine landslides

Submarine slope instabilities are considered one of the major threats for offshore buried pipelines. This paper presents a novel method to evaluate the ultimate pressure acting on a buried pipeline during the liquefaction of an inclined seabed. Small-scale model tests with pipes buried at three different embedment ratios have been conducted...

Pile driving and submarine slope stability: a hybrid engineering approach

During pile installation into a submerged, sandy slope, liquefaction mechanisms including flow and cyclic liquefaction warrant attention. Because of the interconnection of these mechanisms, evaluating slope stability during and as a result of vibration-inducing construction activity is not trivial. This paper presents a practical approach to...

Modelling of landslides in a scree slope induced by groundwater and rainfall

Predicting the trigger of a slope failure of a steep Alpine scree slope in south-west Switzerland is challenging. The groundwater (GW) flow from snow-melting and rainfall infiltration during summer changes the susceptibility to surficial failure, which also depends on the slope angle, bedrock geometry, stratigraphy and the shear strength of the...

Centrifuge modelling of submarine landslides due to static liquefaction

Sand erosion and scouring caused by waves and marine currents result in gradual increase of local seabed inclination and formation of slopes around hydraulic structures and offshore foundations. During this process, shear stresses in the soil body increase monotonically which may lead to static liquefaction and damage of the adjacent offshore...

Precursors of instability in a natural slope due to rainfall: a full-scale experiment

A full-scale landslide-triggering experiment was conducted on a natural sandy slope subjected to an artificial rainfall event, which resulted in mobilisation of 130 m³ of soil mass. Novel slope deformation sensors (SDSs) were applied to monitor the subsurface pre-failure movements and the precursors of the artificially triggered...

Finite element simulation of static liquefaction of submerged sand slopes using a multilaminate model

Static liquefaction is one of the principal triggering mechanisms of failure in fully saturated loose sand slopes both in offshore and onshore regions. Static liquefaction induced landslides are known for their significant softening and a fluid-like behavior at the onset of failure. However, the literature lacks experimentally verified advanced...

Infiltration-induced Slope Instability: A multi-scale approach

Precipitation, together with erosion and earthquakes, have been recognized as the main triggering factors of shallow landslides. However, there are relatively few well-documented cases where direct relationships could be established between occurrence and features of shallow landslides, the rainfall characteristics (e.g. intensity, duration) and...

Physical modelling of landslides induced by rainfall

Landslides triggered by hydraulic perturbations are initiated by a decrease in the effective stress, and hence the shear strength of the soil, as a result of the increase in pore water pressure which might occur due to either rain infiltration or exfiltration of water from the bedrock. However, several factors including the shape and hydraulic...

Physical modelling of rainfall induced landslides under controlled climatic conditions

A series of small scale physical modelling tests are performed in a geotechnical drum centrifuge in order to investigate the triggering mechanisms of landslides due to rainfall. They are conducted under controlled conditions of rainfall intensity and duration, ambient relative humidity, wind, and temperature. These tests have been designed to...