Effects of pipeflow on hydrological process and its relation to landslide: a review of pipeflow studies in forested headwater catchments

Since the 1980s, several field studies of pipeflow hydrology have been conducted in forested, steep headwater catchments. However, adequate information is lacking with regard to questions as to how representative these previous studies are and how widespread the phenomena might be. Thus, the aim of this study is to review some studies of pipeflow hydrology on forested steep hillslopes. Several points were clarified. (1) The maximum discharge of pipeflow was mainly determined by the soil pipe diameter. When the condition of both the soil pipe diameter and the slope gradient in forest soil were similar to those in peaty podzol, the maximum discharge of pipeflow on forest slopes was slighter than that in peaty podzol. (2) Pipeflow was delivered from a variety of sources, and the contributing area of pipeflow extended as the soil layer became wetter. Therefore, the dominant contributor (new water and old water) was varied and the contribution of pipeflow to streamflow increased with the increase of rainfall magnitude. (3) The roles of pipeflow in the storm runoff generation processes demonstrated two roles: the concentration of water and the rapid drainage to downslopes. Thus, soil pipes can increase the peak discharge from the hillslope and decrease the peak lag time of the storm hydrograph, when compared to the unpiped hillslope. (4) The roles of pipeflow on hydrological process suggested that the soil pipes contribute to the slope stability by increasing the rate of soil drainage and limiting the development of perched groundwater conditions. However, if the rate of water concentration to the soil pipe network is in excess of the pipeflow transmission capacity, the cavity of the soil pipe could readily be filled with water during a rain event, increasing pore water pressure in the surrounding matrix. In this case, the soil pipe induced slope instability. (5) Moreover, pipe erosion has significant impact on the runoff characteristics of pipeflow, since pipe erosion contributed to a change in the limited drainage capacity of soil pipe. Thus, pipe erosion plays an important role in shallow landslide initiation. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.