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Coupled transient saturated–unsaturated seepage and limit equilibrium analysis for slopes: influence of rapid water level changes

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Abstract

This study investigates the influence of the water level fluctuation on the stability of soil slopes using coupled seepage and slope stability analysis. A simulation framework was proposed and implemented seamlessly using Python code to seek insights into three factors that have not been thoroughly studied for this issue: soil unit weight variation in the unsaturated zone, unsaturated shear strength models, and velocity of water drawdown. For this purpose, the seepage analysis was carried out by discretizing a numerical seepage analysis model using a finite element analysis platform, FEniCS. The output of the seepage analysis, i.e., pore water pressure distribution, was used as input for the slope stability analysis. Limit equilibrium methods including the Bishop Simplified method and the Ordinary Method of Slices were modified to take into consideration the unsaturated shear strength, unit weight variation in the unsaturated zone, and hydrostatic pressure changes in response to the water level fluctuation of a reservoir. Both seepage and slope analysis modules were validated against commercial programs. Analysis results obtained with the validated framework clearly revealed the distinct influences of the three factors in representative silty and sandy slopes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) via Award 1742656 from the Geotechnical Engineering and Materials Program (now part of CMMI ECI). This work also benefited from the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), which is supported by National Science Foundation grant number ACI-1548562.

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  1. Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI, 49931, USA

    Aynaz Biniyaz, Behnam Azmoon & Zhen Liu

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  1. Aynaz Biniyaz
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  2. Behnam Azmoon
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  3. Zhen Liu
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Correspondence to Zhen Liu.

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Biniyaz, A., Azmoon, B. & Liu, Z. Coupled transient saturated–unsaturated seepage and limit equilibrium analysis for slopes: influence of rapid water level changes. Acta Geotech. 17, 2139–2156 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-021-01359-7

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