Investigation of rainfall-induced failure processes and characteristics of cataclinal and anaclinal slopes using physical models

In this study, two types of small-scale physical modeling tests have considered the impact of the infiltration of rainfall and groundwater level in order to investigate the processes involved in rock slope deformation and failure. The study conducted the physical tests under controlled conditions of groundwater level with rock block shape for two rock slope types (cataclinal and anaclinal slopes). Observations obtained during each stage of deformation and failure were used to explain how gravity deformation varies with groundwater conditions on cataclinal and anaclinal slopes, and infer how rainfall and groundwater influence slope failure. Our results indicate that groundwater level is a crucial factor in the deformation failure of slopes. The failure mechanisms of cataclinal slopes differ considerably from those of anaclinal slopes. The infiltration of surface water and groundwater can have a significant influence on rock layer deformation and the speed of failure. Different shapes of rock block have two toppling types of rock slope, the spherical rock model relatively close to flexural toppling type and the triangular rock model relatively similar to block flexural toppling type, respectively. Details of the failure characteristics of cataclinal and anaclinal slope models are discussed in this paper.