Monitoring and Data Analysis in Small-Scale Landslide Physical Model

Abstract

Physical modeling of landslides using scaled landslide models began in the 1970s in Japan at scaled natural slope physical models. Laboratory experiments of landslide behavior in scaled physical models (also known as flume or flume test) started in the 1980s and 1990s in Canada, Japan, and Australia under 1 g conditions. The main purpose of the landslide physical modeling in the last 25 years was research of initiation, motion, and accumulation of fast flow-like landslides caused by infiltration of water in a slope. In October 2018, at the Faculty of Civil Engineering University of Rijeka, started a four-year research project “Physical modeling of landslide remediation constructions’ behavior under static and seismic actions” funded by the Croatian Science Foundation. This paper presents an overview of the methods and monitoring equipment used in the physical models of a sandy slope exposed to artificial rainfall. Landslide development was monitored by observation of volumetric water content and acceleration as well as by observations of surface displacement by means of high-speed stereo cameras, terrestrial laser scanning, and structure-from-motion photogrammetry. Some of the preliminary results of the initial series of experiments are presented, and advantages and disadvantages of the used equipment are discussed.