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Reliability of Geotechnical Parameters in the Analysis of Ancient Landslides

Received: 21 November 2018     Accepted: 26 February 2019     Published: 21 March 2019
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Abstract

More than 850 large scale landslides in the two main active seismic zones (Alborz and Zagros) in Iran have been studied over the past nearly four decades. Of these, remedial designs made by the author for major engineering works in the 180 or so landslides encountered in the projects have, to the present, been successful. This work has led me to the conclusion that, regardless of their geotechnical parameters measured on intact samples in the laboratory, the main cause of forming of these landslides has been occurrence of high magnitude recent and historical earthquakes, combined with micro/mega discontinuities existing within the soil/rock masses. In this study, according to the results of geotechnical studies, the stability analysis of ancient landslides in the area of gas transmission lines (IGAT) in Iran, is discussed. Three samples, taken from slip surfaces of ancient landslides of the two main active zones are discussed. The samples were taken from apparently weak soils, but, unexpectedly, they showed good stability strength. The major occurrences of landslides were in the two mentioned active zones (Zagros and Alborz). In the sampling process of the three landslides, samples representative of apparently geotechnically weak rock or poor soil type were the only ones selected for testing and were taken from slip surface/zones with well-defined natural deformation, remolding and slicken siding. Geotechnical and soil shear parameters measured on samples taken from the slip surface showed apparent good results indicating that a landslide should not occur. However this assumption proved to be misleading, for despite these measurements, land sliding did occur. This was especially so in the case of rockslides.

Published in Journal of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering (Volume 4, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.jccee.20190401.12
Page(s) 19-27
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Ancient Landslide, Slip Surface, Geotechnical Parameters

References
[1] Wang F, Zhang Y, Huo Z, Peng X, Wang S, Yamasaki S (2008) Mechanism for the rapid motion of the Qianjiangping landslide during reactivation by the first impoundment of the Three Gorges Dam reservoir, China. Landslides 5(4):379–386.
[2] Potts DM, Dounias GT, Vaughan PR (1990) Finite element analysis of progressive failure of Carsington embankment. Geotechnique 40(1):79–101.
[3] Potts DM, Kovacevic N, Vaughan PR (1997) Delayed collapse of cut slopes in stiff clay. Geotechnique 47(5):953–982.
[4] Troncone A, Conte E, Donato A (2014) Two and three-dimensional numerical analysis of the progressive failure that occurred in an excavation-induced landslide. Eng Geol183:265–275.
[5] Troncone A (2005) Numerical analysis of a landslide in soils with strain-softening behavior. Geotechnique 55(8):585–596.
[6] Hossam, Kishawy, A., Hossam, A. Gabbar, 2010.Review of pipeline integrity management practices. Int. J.Press. Vessels Pip. 87(7), 373–380.
[7] Huang, F., Lu, Wu, H. Z., 2011.Buried pipeline optimization in landslide area. ICPTT 2011, pp. 2366–2376.
[8] Ma, Y., Chen, Y., Tan, D., Ma T., 2011. Study on application of fiber bragg grating strain tube in deep displacement monitoring of pipeline landslide. ICPTT 2011, pp. 1438–1444.
[9] Deng, D.M., Zhou, X. H., Shen, Y. P., 1988.Calculation of pipeline innerforce and distortion during transverse landslide body (in Chinese). Oil Gas Storage 17(7), 18–22.
[10] Aghanabati, S.A. 2004. “Geology of Iran.” Ministry of Industry & Mine, Geological Survey of Iran, 18.
[11] Pedram, H. 1990. “Earthquakes, Tectonic Activities, and Landslides.” Proceedings of the First International Conference on Seismology and Earthquake Engineering, V1, 463 - 470.
[12] Pedram, H. 1995. “A Glance over Iranian Landslides, Occurrence and their Distribution.” Proceeding of the First Conference on Methodology of Landslide Hazard Reduction in Iran, International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (In Farsi), 365-387.
[13] Nasiri, Sh. Ehteshami, M. 2004. “An Overview to Iranian Landslide.” National Geosciences Database of Iran, Geological Survey of Iran.
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    Hamid Pedram. (2019). Reliability of Geotechnical Parameters in the Analysis of Ancient Landslides. Journal of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, 4(1), 19-27. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jccee.20190401.12

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    ACS Style

    Hamid Pedram. Reliability of Geotechnical Parameters in the Analysis of Ancient Landslides. J. Civ. Constr. Environ. Eng. 2019, 4(1), 19-27. doi: 10.11648/j.jccee.20190401.12

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    AMA Style

    Hamid Pedram. Reliability of Geotechnical Parameters in the Analysis of Ancient Landslides. J Civ Constr Environ Eng. 2019;4(1):19-27. doi: 10.11648/j.jccee.20190401.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jccee.20190401.12,
      author = {Hamid Pedram},
      title = {Reliability of Geotechnical Parameters in the Analysis of Ancient Landslides},
      journal = {Journal of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering},
      volume = {4},
      number = {1},
      pages = {19-27},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jccee.20190401.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jccee.20190401.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jccee.20190401.12},
      abstract = {More than 850 large scale landslides in the two main active seismic zones (Alborz and Zagros) in Iran have been studied over the past nearly four decades. Of these, remedial designs made by the author for major engineering works in the 180 or so landslides encountered in the projects have, to the present, been successful. This work has led me to the conclusion that, regardless of their geotechnical parameters measured on intact samples in the laboratory, the main cause of forming of these landslides has been occurrence of high magnitude recent and historical earthquakes, combined with micro/mega discontinuities existing within the soil/rock masses. In this study, according to the results of geotechnical studies, the stability analysis of ancient landslides in the area of gas transmission lines (IGAT) in Iran, is discussed. Three samples, taken from slip surfaces of ancient landslides of the two main active zones are discussed. The samples were taken from apparently weak soils, but, unexpectedly, they showed good stability strength. The major occurrences of landslides were in the two mentioned active zones (Zagros and Alborz). In the sampling process of the three landslides, samples representative of apparently geotechnically weak rock or poor soil type were the only ones selected for testing and were taken from slip surface/zones with well-defined natural deformation, remolding and slicken siding. Geotechnical and soil shear parameters measured on samples taken from the slip surface showed apparent good results indicating that a landslide should not occur. However this assumption proved to be misleading, for despite these measurements, land sliding did occur. This was especially so in the case of rockslides.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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    AB  - More than 850 large scale landslides in the two main active seismic zones (Alborz and Zagros) in Iran have been studied over the past nearly four decades. Of these, remedial designs made by the author for major engineering works in the 180 or so landslides encountered in the projects have, to the present, been successful. This work has led me to the conclusion that, regardless of their geotechnical parameters measured on intact samples in the laboratory, the main cause of forming of these landslides has been occurrence of high magnitude recent and historical earthquakes, combined with micro/mega discontinuities existing within the soil/rock masses. In this study, according to the results of geotechnical studies, the stability analysis of ancient landslides in the area of gas transmission lines (IGAT) in Iran, is discussed. Three samples, taken from slip surfaces of ancient landslides of the two main active zones are discussed. The samples were taken from apparently weak soils, but, unexpectedly, they showed good stability strength. The major occurrences of landslides were in the two mentioned active zones (Zagros and Alborz). In the sampling process of the three landslides, samples representative of apparently geotechnically weak rock or poor soil type were the only ones selected for testing and were taken from slip surface/zones with well-defined natural deformation, remolding and slicken siding. Geotechnical and soil shear parameters measured on samples taken from the slip surface showed apparent good results indicating that a landslide should not occur. However this assumption proved to be misleading, for despite these measurements, land sliding did occur. This was especially so in the case of rockslides.
    VL  - 4
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Independent Consultant Geotechnical and Engineering Geology, Tehran, Iran

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