A depth‐integrated, coupled SPH model for flow‐like landslides and related phenomena

TLDR

In recent decades, flow‑like catastrophic landslides have caused many casualties and significant economic damage worldwide. The study aims to predict the path, velocity, and depth of such landslides to aid mitigation, and introduces a model that couples pore pressures with the solid skeleton. The authors derive a depth‑integrated, coupled model from the Biot–Zienkiewicz framework, add simple rheological soil equations, and discretize it with SPH to simulate landslide dynamics. Benchmark tests confirm the model’s accuracy, and it successfully back‑analyses field‑observed catastrophic flow‑like slope movements. © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract

In the past decades, flow-like catastrophic landslides caused many victims and important economic damage around the world. It is therefore important to predict their path, velocity and depth in order to provide adequate mitigation and protection measures. This paper presents a model that incorporates coupling between pore pressures and the solid skeleton inside the avalanching mass. A depth-integrated, coupled, mathematical model is derived from the velocity–pressure version of the Biot–Zienkiewicz model, which is used in soil dynamics. The equations are complemented with simple rheological equations describing soil behaviour and are discretized using the SPH method. The accuracy of the model is assessed using a series of benchmarks, and then it is applied to back-analyse the propagation stage of some catastrophic flow-like slope movements for which field data are available. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.