Issue |
E3S Web of Conf.
Volume 382, 2023
8th International Conference on Unsaturated Soils (UNSAT 2023)
|
|
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Article Number | 24007 | |
Number of page(s) | 6 | |
Section | Long-Term Measurements of Suction in the Field and their Relation to Climatic Parameters - Part II | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202338224007 | |
Published online | 24 April 2023 |
The hydromechanical behaviour of unsaturated loess in slopes, New Zealand
1 Department of Civil and Natural Resources, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
2 School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
* Corresponding author: katherine.yates@canterbury.ac.nz
Unsaturated loess and loess-derived soils in the Akaroa harbour area of New Zealand are vulnerable to shallow landsliding during rainfall events. Laboratory testing and long-term field instrumentation has been conducted to characterise the water retention and unsaturated shear strength of these materials, and better understand temporal changings in slope stability. Laboratory test results indicate that the same soil-water characteristic curve can be applied to both recompacted and intact loess when suction is normalised by the air entry value. Conversely the stress-strain behaviours of the recompacted and intact loess were different due to the unique microstructure of the intact loess that contributes to its shear strength. Long-term field instrumentation data showed that, for the duration of the monitoring period, the hydraulic state of the loess remained on a scanning curve. These data, combined with the laboratory testing, confirm that temporal variation in slope stability can be attributed to seasonal variability in suction and its contribution to unsaturated shear strength. These hydromechanical variabilities, resulting from wetting and drying, are affected by rainfall intensity and duration that occurs at the site.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2023
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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