Discrete Element Simulation of the Road Slope Considering Rainfall Infiltration

Abstract

Rainfall infiltration is the primary factor that induces landslides. In this paper, discrete element software (PFC3D) was used to establish a novel rainfall infiltration model, which integrates water transfer, intensity decay and seepage force into the calculation of the moisture field. By applying this model to the rainfall infiltration analysis of a road slope in Nanping City, Fujian Province, China, the distribution law of water content, the functional relationship between shear strength and water content, and the calculation of permeability at different times can be obtained. The model was verified by comparing simulated results of water content with field monitoring data. The simulation error of water content is lower than 10%. Furthermore, this model application was validated by reproducing the pressure variation of the retaining wall on 12 May 2022. To obtain the accuracy of this model application, it was compared with saturated water content model and seepage force model. The comparison results of the three models showed that the simulation results of this model are best matching with the observation data. Moreover, the verification and validation indicate that our proposed model can be used to effectively analyze the rainfall infiltration of road slope.