We quantify the rainfall-induced slope deformation and assess the failure potential of the slope using finite element modeling that couples solid deformation with fluid pressure in an unsaturated soil. In this paper, we present a physics-based framework for continuum modeling of a hydrologically driven slope failure similar to what occurred in a steep experimental catchment CB1 near Coos Bay, Oregon. When excess fluid can no longer infiltrate the slope due to increased saturation in the soil, it is discharged as a surface runoff and erodes the slope. When the volume of infiltrating water is large enough to mobilize fluid flow inside the soil matrix, the fluid exerts a downhill frictional drag on the slope, creating a destabilizing effect.
It increases the degree of saturation of the soil, thereby breaking the bonds created by surface tension between the soil particles. Rainfall weakens an earth slope in a number of ways.
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