Inverse analysis of an active landslide along the banks of a reservoir

Abstract

The paper presents the numerical inverse analysis of a well-documented slow-moving landslide in Southern Italy which has been active in the 70s along the banks of an artificial reservoir servicing a hydro-electric power plant. A numerical procedure was adopted to predict movements of active landslides along pre-existing slip surfaces related to changes in the groundwater regime of the affected slope. The analysis was used to: (1) evaluate the absolute and relative importance, for the observed kinematic behaviour of the phenomenon, of the two triggering factors of the landslide: rainfall and changes of the reservoir's level, (2) assess the effectiveness of different mitigation strategies on the basis of numerical predictions based on the calibrated model of the phenomenon. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.