Initiation Analysis of an Irrigation-Induced Loess Landslide

Abstract

Underground water level rise because of irrigation has induced a lot of loess landslides in South Jingyang Plateau located in Shanxi Province, PR China. This paper presents a detailed initiation analysis of the landslides through field investigations, a series of GDS triaxial tests composed of isotropically and anisotropically consolidated undrained (ICU/ACU) compression tests and constant-shear-drained (CQD) triaxial tests for undisturbed saturated loess and numerical modeling. The tests show that the contractive failure will cause excess pore water pressure that cannot be dissipated instantly, and will result in the decrease of the shearing resistance. Shear deformation during failure moves the soil toward the critical state rapidly and make the loess completely in liquefactive condition. Therefore, the slope is prone to rapid and long run-out flow slide after failure under the action of gravity because of its high water content.