mechanism of a railway landslide caused by rainfall

This paper presents the study of a landslide induced by rainfall above a railway line in terms of site investigations, laboratory tests, finite element, and limit equilibrium analyses. The purpose of the study is to identify the cause and failure mechanism so as to prevent the recurrence of such fai...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Landslides 2010-06, Vol.7 (2), p.149-156
Main Authors: Xu, Qianjun, Zhang, Limin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Civil Engineering
Clay
Drainage systems
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Equilibrium analysis
Failure
Failure analysis
Finite element analysis
Finite element method
Geography
Geological engineering
Laboratory tests
Landslide
Landslides
Landslides & mudslides
Limit equilibrium analysis
Mathematical analysis
Natural Hazards
Original Paper
Railway networks
Rain
Rainfall
Rainfall infiltration
Retaining wall
Retaining walls
Rock
Rocks
Slope stability
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Summary:This paper presents the study of a landslide induced by rainfall above a railway line in terms of site investigations, laboratory tests, finite element, and limit equilibrium analyses. The purpose of the study is to identify the cause and failure mechanism so as to prevent the recurrence of such failure. The slope concerned was composed of 3∼4 m thick fissured clay overlying highly weathered mica marble interbedded with quartz schist. The slope was cut into two steps and was protected by a masonry revetment and a thin masonry retaining wall at the toe. The region concerned suffered a whole month's light drizzle in September, after which a rainfall of an intensity of 80 mm (in 48 h) occurred 5 days prior to the failure that happened on October 5, 2004. The rainfall infiltration and a failed drainage system behind the retaining wall resulted in high saturation of the clay and finally led to an undrained failure. The short-term slope stability using total stress parameters was examined by the finite element and limit equilibrium analyses. The factors of safety of the slope obtained by the finite element and limit equilibrium analysis were 0.935 and 0.854, which are in agreement with the occurrence of failure. Since the slide took place through the interface of the soil and rock, the exposure of rock has significant effect on the stability.
ISSN:1612-510X
1612-5118
DOI:10.1007/s10346-010-0195-y