Design of medium depth drainage trench systems for the mitigation of deep landsliding

Abstract

For those slopes where the piezometric regime acts as internal landslide predisposing factor, drainage may represent a more effective mitigation measure than other structural interventions. However, drainage trenches have been generally considered as mitigation measure solely for shallow landslides. More recently, instead, some authors show that the variation in piezometric conditions at large depth is not negligible when medium depth drainage trenches are involved. The paper presents the results of finite element analyses of the transient seepage induced by the installation of systems of drainage trenches of different geometric parameters, and the effect of the drainage system on the stability factor of the slip surface, through 2D limit equilibrium analyses. The pilot region is the Daunia Apennines, where field studies have led to recognize for most of the landslides a “bowl‐shaped” slip surface; the results accounting for the Fontana Monte slope at Volturino (Italy), selected as prototype landslide in the assessment of the stabilization efficacy of deep drainage trench systems, is discussed in the following. The study aims at providing indications about the design of the drainage trenches to reduce the pore water pressures on a deep slip surface of such type.