Slope Stability and Pore-Water Pressure Regime in Response to Rainfall: A Case Study of Granitic Fill Slope in Northern Thailand

Abstract

Spatial and temporal variations of pore water pressure within slopes in response to rainfall that lead to slope failure, are one of the major uncertainties in evaluating slope stability. This paper reports on the study of slope stability with respect to pore water pressure variation with rainfall during actual failure in September 2011. The studied slope, situated near the peak of Doi-Inthanon national park, Northern Thailand, consisted of granitic residual soil fill that suffered from soil erosion and shallow failure. The KU-tensiometers were installed to monitor both pore water pressure and suction in the slope. Various laboratory and field tests were conducted, namely, direct shear tests on both fully saturated and unsaturated soils, soil water characteristic curve, and field infiltration tests. Two-dimensional (2-D) Back analysis of slope stability, for failure event in 2011 suggested that the critical pore water pressure distribution can be assigned to the r_u value of about 0.43 or u=0.43γH. Based on three dimensional (3-D) stability analysis, the pore water pressure can be 30% higher when compared with the 2-D analysis. 2-D Finite Element seepage analysis appeared to capture general trend of pore-water pressure change reasonably well. However, it seemed to underpredict the pore-water pressure at failure especially for depth greater than 2 meters.