HydroMechanical coupled model for unsaturated phenomena in a rainfall-induced landslide

A heavy rainfall is one of the most factors which induce shallow landslides. This type of landslides usually takes place in partial saturated slopes. The main slip mechanisms can be explained by the different physical key processes in variably saturated soils during rainfall events. Those processes are related to water effect on the mechanical behaviour, water flow through the porous media, and the soil water retention behaviour. In this paper, an elasto-plastic constitutive model that captures the main features of the behaviour of unsaturated soils is used in a fully coupled hydromechanical finite element analysis to catch the destabilizing processes in a steep slope which may occur on the construction phase of landfills during rain infiltration.