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Chemenda et al. 2005
Chemenda, A., Bouissou, S. and Bachmann, D. (2005). Three-dimensional physical modeling of deep-seated landslides: New technique and first results. Journal of Geophysical Research 110: doi: 10.1029/2004JF000264. issn: 0148-0227.

A new technique for physical (experimental) modeling of landsliding and the first results are presented. The technique is based on the use of new elasto-brittle-plastic analogue materials and an original vertical accelerator device enabling an increase in the gravity acceleration. This technique allows slope stability to be addressed in a full three-dimensional, large strain formulation involving brittle and ductile rupture of the material. Three sets of experiments on the scale of a mountain ~1 km high are presented. The first one was designed to define the conditions and the mode of instability (deformation) in a homogeneous unfractured model. Instability occurs when the effective compressive strength σc of the mountain is as small as 107 Pa, i.e., about 1 order of magnitude lower than the typical strength of small rock samples. The deformation and rupture involve the whole mountain and correspond to well-known, deep-seated gravitational slope deformation. In the second set of experiments we introduced inherited tectonic faults, which considerably reduce mountain stability, with deformation again developing at the mountain scale. The introduction of the local small-scale fractures and weak zones in the last set of experiments resulted in smaller-scale shallow landslides.

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Global Change, Geomorphology and weathering (0790, 1824, 1825, 1826, 1886), Physical Properties of Rocks, General or miscellaneous, Structural Geology, Fractures and faults, Structural Geology, General or miscellaneous, landslide, deep-seated gravitational slope deformation, slope stability, physical modeling
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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