Hydro-mechanical analysis of an unsaturated pyroclastic slope based on monitoring data

Abstract

In recent decades in Campania (Italy) there have been rapid landslides involving unsaturated soil covers resting on steep bedrock. The paper summarises the results of both monitoring at a pilot site in the municipality of Monteforte Irpino (AV) in southern Italy and hydromechanical properties of soils from the same site. The first part of the paper concerns the description of the pilot site and the hydro-mechanical characterization of the soils based on wide-ranging laboratory investigation. In the second part of the paper the seasonal features of the pore water regime are described. Measurements are elaborated to estimate the groundwater head spatial distribution and, in turn, head gradients. Finally, a simple stability analysis is presented, schematizing the slope as infinite. .