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DISCUSSION / DISCUSSION

Discussion of Response of a residual soil slope

to rainfall1
Ana C. Londono
Londono

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The advance of the wetting front in unsaturated soils

has motivated continuous laboratory and field research.
Rahardjo et al. (2005) presented an interesting field study of
the response of residual slopes to rainfall, monitoring the
runoff generation and rapid advance of infiltration within
soils. A separate study by A.C. Londono2 in 2004 of the instability of the lower Licking River banks (Fig. 1) found
similar results for riverbanks under flooding conditions. The
research focused on (a) the mechanical characteristics of the
material forming the banks, (b) the processes responsible for
the instability of the banks, (c) a sensitivity analysis of soil
parameters in the stability computations, and (d) the role that
pore-water pressure played in affecting the strength of the
cohesive materials. The following discussion will report only
the pore-water pressure behavior portion of the study.
Floodplains have been centers of human occupation since
the dawn of civilization because of their fertility and the accessibility to water for agriculture and industry. There are,
however, problems with floodplains: they flood, and their
banks are often unstable and prone to erosion. The banks of
the Licking River in northern Kentucky display continued
instability, making them ideally suited for analyzing the processes initiating mass movement and ways they may be mitigated.
In 1997, a major flood occurred in portions of southern
Ohio, Indiana, and northern Kentucky. Floodplains in these
areas were covered by 10 m (32.8 ft) of water and remained
inundated for 2 weeks. During this period, water percolated
into the silty-clay soil, changing its hydraulic conditions
from partially saturated to saturated with positive pore pressure, thereby decreasing the effective stress. When the flood
receded, the banks were fully saturated under undrained conditions without lateral confinement. Elevated pore pressures
combined with the loss of soil strength triggered several roReceived 22 January 2006. Accepted 15 June 2006. Published
on the NRC Research Press Web site at http://cgj.nrc.ca on
22 September 2006.
A.C. Londono. Department of Geology, University of
Cincinnati, P.O. Box 210013, Cincinnati, OH 452210013,
USA (e-mail: londonaa@email.uc.edu).
1
2

Appears in Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 42: 340351.

A.C. Londono. Bank stability resulting from rapid flood
recession along the Licking River, Kentucky. Unpublished
MS thesis, Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati,
Cincinnati, Ohio. 120 pp.

Can. Geotech. J. 43: 979983 (2006)

tational slumps, causing damage to adjacent property. The

resulting slope failures motivated the study of slope stability
conducted by A.C. Londono2 in 2004.
Recent studies (Simon et al. 2000; Darby et al. 2000;
Simon et al. 2002) have also correlated bank instability with
increased pore-water pressure resulting from flooding
events. During periods of flooding or high water level, soils
become saturated. When the river level drops with sufficient
rapidity, the soil remains saturated and significant seepage
forces develop, thereby increasing lateral shear stresses,
which may cause the banks to fail.
In natural conditions, the soil is subjected to changes in
moisture content along its profile owing to seasonal variations. The uppermost layer of the profile is affected by daily
evaporation and incipient infiltration during low-intensity
rainfalls. As depth increases, the changes in moisture are
controlled by the rate of infiltration and by the fluctuations
in the position of the water table, thus enabling rapid
changes in the soil from unsaturated to saturated conditions.
Different approaches can be taken to approximate the
infiltration of water into the soil. Field experiments with
simulated rainfall conducted by Londono (1995) considered
infiltration as a function of rainfall intensity and slope by
variation of the resistivity. That study found the wetting
front rapidly advanced into the soil (Fig. 2), increasing its
moisture content hence decreasing its resistivity. The same
values of specific resistance were found in the deepest sections of the soil after a rainfall event. This was interpreted in
two ways: (i) all infiltrated water was incorporated into the
soil in the upper levels, or (ii) the moisture content did not
change because the soil had reached saturation.
Rahardjo et al. (2005) found that the recession limb of the
rainfall hydrograph is influenced by slope topography and
rainfall characteristics. They suggested that the content of
water in the soil was greater at the toe of the slope than at
the crest. This influence of slope topography was also found
by Londono (1995) to be an important factor in the advance
of the wetting front. Tests of simulated rainfall in slopes of
similar soil characteristics and different inclination indicated
that there is a gradual decrease in the depth the infiltration
reaches with increase in slope inclination.
During dry periods, soils are partially saturated and have
relatively high shear strength, which allows them to remain
stable. During wet periods, however, soils lose strength. Although many studies have correlated landsliding with highintensity rain events, several studies have found just one

doi:10.1139/T06-084

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Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 43, 2006

Fig. 1. Study site at Licking River, Kentucky.

Fig. 2. Advance of wetting front through a soil derived from colluvium at different times (readings every 5 min; Londono 1995).

Fig. 3. Initial and final conditions for specific resistance within a

soil after a 5 day rainy period (Londono 1995).

high-intensity rain may not cause instability because soils

respond differently, mechanically and hydraulically, when
they are dry or wet.
Londono (1995) found that after a simulated rainy period
of 5 days (about 20 min of rainfall per day), it was possible
to identify the cumulative changes in moisture content in the
soil (Fig. 3), highlighting the importance of antecedent rainfall on those increases. The importance of antecedent events

as they affect slope instability has been explored by Reid et

al. (1988), Ng and Shi (1998), and Rahardjo et al. (2001).
Rahardjo et al. (2005) found that runoff, peak runoff rate,
and infiltration rates appear faster after simulated rainfalls,
supporting the idea that antecedent rainfalls play an important role in the behavior of soil slopes.
Ng and Shi (1998) found that the factor of safety of a
slope depends on the rainfall duration and intensity, as well
as on the initial hydrological conditions of the site (location
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Fig. 4. Matric suction measurements along the eastern bank of the Licking River at the city of Wilder, Kentucky.

of the water table). If the groundwater table is well below

the failure surface, even after a high-intensity rainfall, the
slopes can remain stable. In their study in which they modeled the response of an unsaturated slope to rainfall events,
Ng and Shi (1998) found that prolonged rainfall does not
cause significant changes in groundwater level; instead it
changes the pore pressure distribution, thereby lowering the
factor of safety. They also found the factor of safety to decrease in short duration storms when the slopes have been
subjected to antecedent rainfall equivalent to the rain of critical duration.
Chowdhury and Flentje (2002) found that landslides triggered by high-intensity and short-duration rainfall do not occur unless the soil antecedent moisture content is already
high. They also found that pre-existing landslides may be
reactivated after periods of intense and prolonged rainfall.
Reid et al. (1988), in the study of a landslide in the Santa
Cruz Mountains of central California, found that rainfallinduced positive pore pressures developed in the slope after
a storm event may be accentuated by the presence of a
perched water table, changing the behavior of the soil.
Rahardjo et al. (2001) modeled a storm that triggered
landslides in Singapore and concluded that antecedent rainfall was significant in triggering the landslides. They demonstrated that isolated rainfall events of similar magnitude as
the event that caused the failures were not responsible for
the failure of the slope. Their explanation is that antecedent
rainfall causes the matric suction to decrease in the slope,
consequently the hydraulic conductivity of the material increases, making the soil more permeable to infiltration. This
decreases the shear strength of the soils and thus the factor
of safety. After the storm, water continues percolating within
the soil, which gradually loses moisture, causing the factor
of safety to begin increasing.
Rahardjo et al. (2005), in their study of residual soil re-

sponse to rainfall, found that matric suction responds rapidly

to rainfall events, lowering its magnitude and gradually recovering after rainfall stops; also, that runoff rate depends
on rainfall intensity. They indicated that as soil increases its
moisture content, less time is required for the runoff to occur, indicating that antecedent rainfall plays an important
role in modifying the soil characteristics.
Similar results were found by A.C. Londono2 in a bank
stability study in the northern Kentucky area with matric
suction being recorded continuously for 1 year. For this
study, four tensiometers and one piezometer were installed
to evaluate the influence of water-level fluctuation on the
stability of the eastern banks of the Licking River. These instruments were connected to a datalogger that monitored the
changes in matric suction related to variations in moisture
content every 10 min. The tensiometers were placed at
depths of 1.2, 1.8, 2.4, and 3 m (4, 6, 8, and 10 ft), and a
piezometer was set at a depth of 3.7 m (12 ft). The alluvial
deposits tested were chiefly silty clays varying in color from
olive-brown to greenish-gray.
The recording period demonstrated that matric suction is
particularly sensitive to rainfall, infiltration and rapid fall
from flood stage. As water percolates through the soil or as
the water table rises, matric suction is gradually lost (Fig. 4),
and after the rainfall or floods have passed, it starts recovering. During periods of scattered rain, water percolates into
the ground increasing the soil moisture content. The free water remaining flows through the soil pores, moving within
the soil profile without saturating the soil, thus matric suction is still present in the soil.
During the study period, several floods were observed and
measurements of the groundwater table were taken after the
flood recession. In the majority of the cases, the water table
was 0.51.5 m below the ground surface, demonstrating a
lag time between percolation and the rise of the water table.
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Fig. 5. Flood occurred on 15 November 2003; river elevation 144 m asl.

Fig. 6. Seepage developed after two consecutive flood events.

Two other flood events were observed in the area separated

by 8 days. During the recession following the first event
(144 m asl water stage, 15 November 2003, Fig. 5), the
groundwater table was below the ground surface, resulting
in partial saturation of the soil in the upper metre of the profile. After the recession of the first flood, the river stage rose
again resulting in a water table elevation of 146 m asl
(23 November 2003, Fig. 6). Following the recession of that

second flood event, the groundwater table was observed to

be at the surface of the slope (seepage conditions, Fig. 6).
These seepage conditions encountered in the slope after
two consecutive flood events underscore the importance of
antecedent events in the behavior of water within the soils.
After one flood event that covered the slope for a couple of
days, the soils did not reach full saturation. Therefore, positive pore pressures were not developed during that period.
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Londono

This first event prepared the slope for saturation. Hence, after the second flood event, full saturation was achieved in
the slope causing positive pore pressures to develop.
In the case of failure along the riverbanks, it was observed
that rainfall prior to the flood events modified the degree of
saturation of the materials, increasing the hydraulic conductivity of the soil, thus facilitating the percolation of water
within the soil. As the banks were flooded, the soil had
enough time to become saturated, and after the water receded, undrained conditions developed accompanied by loss
of confinement of the slope. Seepage forces may have developed under those conditions triggering the slope failures.
Qualitative studies on the advance of the wetting front and
the rapid response of soils to moisture increase have been
made by several authors. Rahardjo et al. (2005) made an important contribution not only because they document the response of soil to infiltration and time for runoff to occur, but
also because they demonstrate for the conditions of their
slope that rainfall contributes from 40% to 100% of its total
to infiltration and that a 10 mm amount of rainfall is the
threshold for runoff to occur. These numerical values for
percent of rainfall contribution to infiltration and the threshold values for runoff to occur are of great value in the assessment of slope stability problems.
The results of A.C. Londonos study indicate that the wetting front travels rapidly through the soils and its advance
depends on topography. Further, it was found that runoff occurs faster when the slopes have been previously wetted by
rainfall; or in the case of slopes under influence of flooding,
subsequent floods allowed full saturation of the slopes.
These two cases demonstrate the importance of antecedent
events on the water behavior within the slopes.
A reduction of matric suction in a soil is produced by infiltration during and after a rainfall, by percolation during
floods, and by changes in water table elevation. The results of
this study support the findings of Rahardjo et al. (2005) in
which matric suction responds rapidly to changes in moisture
content of the soil, lowering its magnitude during a rainfall
event and gradually recovering after the event passed.

983

from the Geology Department at the University of Cincinnati

(Cincinnati, Ohio) and H.C. Nutting Company (Cincinnati,
Ohio) for their contribution on borehole drilling, sample extraction, and laboratory analysis. I wish to extend my gratitude to Terry Vince, Administrator of the City of Wilder,
Kentucky, for allowing the installation of monitoring equipment of the Licking River bank and to Dr. David B. Nash
and Dr. Mark T. Bowers for their guidance on the research
and comments on this manuscript.

References
Chowdhury, R., and Flentje, P. 2002. Uncertainties in rainfallinduced landslide hazard. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 35: 6170.
Darby, S., Gessler, D., and Thorne, C. 2000. Computer program for
stability analysis of steep cohesive riverbanks. Earth Surface
Processes and Landforms, technical communication, 25: 175
190.
Londono, A. 1995. Variacin del rgimen de infiltracin en un
suelo en funcin de la intensidad de lluvia y pendiente del terreno. Tesis de grado, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medelln. p. 138.
Ng, C., and Shi, Q. 1998. Influence of rainfall intensity and duration on slope stability in unsaturated soils. Quarterly Journal of
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Rahardjo, H., Li, X., Toll, D., and Leong, E. 2001. The effect of
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Simon, A., Thomas, R., Curini, A., and Shields, D. 2002. Case
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Acknowledgments
The author gratefully acknowledges the financial support

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