Analysis of the Possible Reactivation of the Krbavčići Landslide in Northern Istria, Croatia

The Krbavčići landslide occurred in January 1979 near the town of Buzet, Croatia, after a long period of heavy rainfall. It is located in Northern Istria in the area built of flysch rock mass where numerous mass movements in the past and recent history have been recorded. A flysch rock mass is highly susceptible to weathering, which leads to material disintegration, changes in geotechnical properties, and shear strength decrease, finally resulting in instability processes in flysch slopes. This paper describes existing information about the Krbavčići landslide occurrence, laboratory testing of siltstone samples from a flysch rock mass, and numerical slope stability analyses of a possible landslide reactivation caused by possible long rainy periods and further weathering of the flysch rock mass. Slope stability analysis using the Rocscience, Slide software, as well as landslide numerical simulations using the LS-Rapid simulation software were performed on the basis of the digital elevation model (DEM) and laboratory test results of siltstones with different weathering grades. A DEM of the Krbavčići landslide was obtained on the basis of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) survey conducted in March 2016. The residual shear strength of siltstones to predict a reactivation of landslides is of highest importance and was determined by ring shear and direct shear tests on siltstone samples with different weathering grades. The results of the numerical simulations show that an increase of the groundwater level in the landslide body in combination with the further weathering of the flysch rock material at the sliding surface would have the main influence on a possible landslide reactivation and the further development of the landslide displacement.

Determination of hydraulic conductivity and shear strength properties of unsaturated residual soil from flysch rock mass

Slopes in flysch deposits areas wide within Europe are highly prone to landslide occurrence. Depending on the material properties and climate conditions, instabilities in a form of earthflows, shallow and deep-seated landslides were observed in these formations. Typically, slope instabilities occurred after prolonged periods of rainfall. The Rječina River Valley, Croatia, built in flysch formation, is well known by several landslides occurred in the past. The weathering process of flysch rock mass and local climate conditions resulted in a specific engineering geological profile of the valley, with the unsaturated residual soil covering the bedrock. Although the behaviour of residual soil is important for a landslide triggering both through the rainfall infiltration process and (unsaturated) shear strength, hydro-mechanical properties of this material in unsaturated conditions were not investigated in the past. This paper summarizes the results of different laboratory tests performed on intact samples for hydro-mechanical characterization of the residual soil from flysch rock mass. It was found that the unique shear strength envelope could be used to determine failure conditions both for saturated and unsaturated conditions. The results obtained from strain-controlled and wetting tests performed in conventional and modified direct shear apparatuses indicated high values of the apparent cohesion that the near-surface soil can experience due to the increase of matric suction. The hysteresis effects and hydraulic paths to which soil was exposed to in the past were found to affect the soil behaviour, while the soil formation process results with a complex soil structure that imposes the necessity of using intact soil samples for proper hydraulic characterization of the soil.

Soil-Water Characteristic Curve of Residual Soil from a Flysch Rock Mass

Depending on the nature of the material and suction range, laboratory measurements of the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) can be time-consuming and expensive, especially for residual soils, in which a wide range of particle sizes and soil structures typically results in SWCCs that cover a wide range of suction. Investigations of the SWCCs of residual soil from flysch rock masses are rare, and so far, no results were presented in the literature which were obtained by performing measurements on undisturbed specimens. In this paper, a detailed examination of water retention characteristics is performed for a specific type of residual soil (CL) formed by the weathering of a flysch rock mass. Measurements performed by using different techniques and devices on intact specimens were successfully combined to obtain the SWCC during both drying and wetting processes, under different stress conditions, and from saturated to air-dried conditions. Used procedures are suitable for the determination of SWCCs of soils that undergo volume changes during the drying or the wetting process, since instantaneous volumetric water content can be determined. Results presented in this paper can be used to assess the influence of desaturation of the residual soil covering flysch slopes during dry summer periods by providing key-in material properties required to analyze the transient rainfall infiltration process.