Instabilities on moraine slopes induced by loss of suction: a case history

In comparison with saturated conditions, negative pore water pressures arising from partial saturation increase the available shear strength on a potential slip surface. This additional contribution is lost progressively during infiltration of rainfall, leading to instabilities, sometimes before full saturation is reached. In such cases, reliable prediction of the safety factor may be achieved, by taking the suction history of the soil into account. A combination of field and laboratory tests was carried out recently to investigate the triggering effect of rainfall on shallow slips in alpine moraine slopes. The problem is complicated by the strong heterogeneity of these soils, with particle sizes varying from silts to boulders. The data highlight the influence of suction on the peak shear strength, and allow for the calibration of simple models, which take into account the dependence of shear strength on the saturation degree. An infinite slope stability analysis is performed. The results are compared with the field data from two test sites, where the development of a shallow planar slip in the steeper 42degrees slope was observed after two days of artificial rainfall. The less steep 31degrees slope remained stable.