SOILS AND FOUNDATIONS Vol. 51, No. 6, 1075–1090, Dec.

2011
Japanese Geotechnical Society

NUMERICAL PREDICTION OF SEEPAGE AND SEISMIC

BEHAVIOR OF UNSATURATED FILL SLOPE

TOMOHIRO MORIi), RYOSUKE UZUOKAii), TAKASHI CHIBAiii), KENJI KAMIYAiv) and MOTOKI KAZAMAv)

ABSTRACT
This paper presents a case study on a numerical prediction of the seepage and seismic behaviors of an unsaturated ˆll
slope. In this study, the numerical prediction is performed with a dynamic three-phase (soil, water and air) coupled
analysis based on porous media theory and constitutive models. The weak forms of three governing equations,
momentum balance equations of the overall three-phase material and mass and the momentum balance equations of
the pore ‰uids (water and air), are implemented in a ˆnite element model. The discretized equations are solved by the
fully implicit method and the skeleton stress is also implicitly integrated. The in-situ observation at the target ˆll slope
of the case study has been ongoing since 2006. First, distributions of water saturation in the ˆll slope are simulated by
performing seepage analyses to reproduce the in-situ ground water level in the ˆll slope. Second, seismic responses of
the ˆll slope during two past earthquakes are simulated, and the numerical method is validated by comparing observed
acceleration records and numerical one. Finally, seismic responses of the ˆll slope during a future scenario earthquake
are predicted under diŠerent moisture conditions of unsaturated ˆll. As a result, the following ˆndings were obtained.
1) The shape of the ground water level was partially reproduced from the quite dry ˆll slope element by using virtual
constant precipitation. However, the observation results of moisture distribution above the ground water level were
not reproduced. 2) In the validation analyses after two earthquakes, the numerical method reproduced the positions of
peak frequency of acceleration Fourier spectra. 3) The numerical results clearly showed that frequency characteristics
of the seismic response and the residual displacement of the ˆll slope were aŠected by the initial distribution of the
degree of saturation in the ˆll ground.

Key words: earth ˆll, eŠective stress analysis, seepage, seismic response, unsaturated soil, water retention curve (IGC:
E7/E8/E13)

Okamura and Soga, 2006; Unno et al., 2008), it ihas been

INTRODUCTION suggested that the behaviors of pore air and suction play
Fill slopes located in old valleys have been damaged an important role during the liquefaction of unsaturated
signiˆcantly during earthquakes due to the high water soil (Kazama et al., 2006).
content in the ˆll. Moreover, since the capillary zone in a The focus of liquefaction analyses done in the past
ˆll slope composed of volcanic soil with high water reten- tended to be on fully saturated ground. Various dynamic
tion is usually thick, it it is possible that it liqueˆes during soil-water coupled analyses based on porous media theo-
an earthquake (Uzuoka et al., 2005). Cyclic triaxial tests ry (Biot, 1962) have been proposed since the 1980's
with unsaturated soil have been performed to investigate (Zienkiewicz et al., 1978; Ghaboussi and Dikmen, 1978;
the liquefaction strength of unsaturated soils (e.g., Ishihara and Towhata, 1980; Zienkiewicz and Shiomi,
Yoshimi et al., 1989; Tsukamoto et al., 2002; Selim and 1984; Prevost, 1985; Finn et al., 1986; Iai and Kameoka,
Burak, 2006). In general, the liquefaction strength of un- 1993; Oka et al., 1994; Fukutake and Ohtsuki, 1995).
saturated soil is larger than that of saturated soil with the Although some of these took the degree of saturation
same conditions, but this is not the case when the initial into account and were therefore capable of were capable
water saturation is the same. In recent discussions on the of describing unsaturated soil (Meroi and Schre‰er, 1995;
liquefaction mechanism of unsaturated soil (e.g., Uzuoka et al., 2001), they did not consider the response
i)
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Japan (mori＠soil1.civil.to-
hoku.ac.jp).
ii)
Professor, The University of Tokushima, Institute of Technology and Science, Japan (uzuoka＠ce.tokushima-u.ac.jp).
iii)
Kajima Corporation (former Graduate Student, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University), Japan.
iv)
Nagoya City (former Graduate Student, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University), Japan.
v)
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Japan (kazama_motok＠civil.tohoku.
ac.jp).
The manuscript was received on August 25, 2009 for publication in the Special Issue on ``IS-Kyoto International Symposium on Prediction
and Simulation Methods for Geohazard Mitigation'' published in Vol. 50 No. 4.
Written discussions on this paper should be submitted before July 1, 2012 to the Japanese Geotechnical Society, 4-38-2, Sengoku, Bunkyo-ku,
Tokyo 112-0011, Japan. Upon request the closing date may be extended one month.

1075
1076 MORI ET AL.

of pore air pressure explicitly. Since the compressibility partial densities of soil skeleton, pore water and air are
of pore air plays an important role during liquefaction of deˆned as follows,
unsaturated soil (Kazama et al., 2006), the response of
rs＝nsrsR＝(1－n)rsR
pore air pressure should be taken into consideration when
rw＝nwrwR＝nswrwR
reproducing the liquefaction behavior of unsaturated
ra＝naraR＝nsaraR＝n(1－sw)raR (1)
soil. Recently, pore air pressure has been treated as a
primary variable in dynamic analyses (Schre‰er and where rs, rw and ra are the partial densities of soil skele-
Scotta, 2001; Ravichandran, 2009; Ravichandran and ton, pore water and air respectively. rsR, rwR and raR are
Muraleetharan, 2009). In addition, constitutive models the real densities of each phase, ns, nw and na are the
for the cyclic behavior of unsaturated soil have been volume fractions of each phase. n is the porosity, sw is the
proposed using suction as a stress variable (Khalili et al., degree of water saturation and sa is the degree of air satu-
2008; Bian and Shahrour, 2009). However, their numeri- ration.
cal applications are limited to the model ground and are The mass balance equation for the a phase (a＝s, w, a)
not validated in real cases during an earthquake. is
This study presents a case study on a numerical predic- D a ra
tion of seepage and seismic behaviors of an unsaturated ＋ra div va＝0 (2)
Dt
ˆll slope. In this study, the numerical prediction is per-
formed by using a dynamic three-phase (soil, water and where Da/Dt is the material time derivative with respect
air) coupled analysis based on porous media theory and to the a phase, and va is the velocity vector of the a phase.
constitutive models. A simpliˆed constitutive model for a The mass exchange among three phases is ignored here.
saturated sandy soil is extended to an unsaturated soil us- The linear momentum balance equation of the a phase is
ing a skeleton stress (e.g., Gallipoli et al., 2003) in place Dava
of the eŠective stress of a saturated soil. The importance ra ＝raaa＝div sa＋rab＋ âpa (3)
of modeling the soil water characteristic curves (SWCC) Dt
when reproducing any change in suction and water satu- where aa is the acceleration vector of the a phase, sa is the
ration during cyclic loading is now well understood. A Cauchy total stress tensor of the a phase, b is the body
simpliˆed SWCC model with a logistic function is force vector, âpa is the interaction vector of the a phase
proposed to reproduce the wetting process during cyclic with the other phases.
loading. The weak forms of simpliˆed governing equa- The constitutive equations are as follows. The partial
tions, momentum balance equations of the overall three- Cauchy stress of each phase is assumed as
phase material and the continuity equations (mass and
ss＝s?－(1－n)(swpw＋sapa)I
momentum balance equations) of the pore ‰uids (water
sw＝－nswpwI, sa＝－nsapaI (4)
and air), are all included in a ˆnite element model
(Uzuoka et al., 2007). The discretized equations are where s? is the skeleton stress tensor (e.g., Gallipoli et al.,
solved by the fully implicit method and the skeleton stress 2003), pw is the pore water pressure and pa is the pore air
is also implicitly integrated. The in-situ observation at the pressure. The stress and the pressures are deˆned as posi-
target ˆll slope for this case study has been performed tive in tension and compression, respectively. The inter-
since 2006. In-situ tests and laboratory tests with dis- action vector for each phase is assumed as
turbed soil samples are conducted before the predictions.
âps＝－ âpw－ âpa
The material parameters of the constitutive models are
determined after calibrating the results of the laboratory nwrwRg w ws
âpw＝pw grad nw－ n v
tests. First, distributions of water saturation in the ˆll kws
slope are simulated by performing seepage analyses to
naraRg a as
reproduce the in-situ ground water level in the ˆll slope. âpa＝pa grad na－ nv (5)
kas
Second, seismic responses of the ˆll slope during two past
earthquakes are simulated and the numerical method is where g is the gravity acceleration, and kws and kas are the
validated by comparing the results to the observed ac- permeability coe‹cient of water and air, respectively.
celeration records. Finally, the seismic responses of the The compressibility of pore water under an isothermal
ˆll slope during a future scenario earthquake are predict- condition is assumed as
ed under diŠerent initial moisture conditions of unsatu- DsrwR rwR Dspw
rated ˆll. The in‰uences of the moisture conditions on the ＝ w (6)
Dt K Dt
seismic responses of unsaturated ˆll slop are discussed
through the numerical results. where K w is the bulk modulus of the pore water. The
compressibility of the pore air under an isothermal condi-
tion assumed as
NUMERICAL METHOD
DsraR 1 Dspa
Balance and Constitutive Equations ＝ (7)
Dt UR̃ Dt
Firstly the basic equations are derived based on porous
media theory (e.g., de Boer, 2000; Schre‰er, 2002). The where U is the absolute temperature, and R̃ is the speciˆc
 UNSATURATED FILL SLOPE 1077

gas constant of air. The constitutive relation between
water saturation and suction is assumed as
Dssw Dspc D s ( p a－ p w)
＝c ＝c
Dt Dt Dt
where c is the speciˆc water capacity and pc is the suction.
The speciˆc water capacity is calculated from the soil
water characteristic curve (SWCC). The SWCC is as-
sumed as
sw＝(sws－swr)swe＋swr
swe＝s
1＋exp (a1gpc＋b1g)t
－c
, 1g
pc＝pa－pw
where sws is the saturated (maximum) degree of saturation,
swr is the residual (minimum) degree of saturation and swe is
the eŠective water saturation. The relationship between swe
and suction pc is assumed as a logistic function with
material parameters alg, blg and clg. The logistic SWCC is
continuous function at pc＝0, which allows for conver-
gence in the iterative numerical scheme. The SWCC dur-
ing undrained cyclic shear has a similar shape as a ``wet-
ting'' curve (Unno et al., 2008). The above SWCC is mo-
diˆed to ˆt the ``wetting'' curve during undrained cyclic
shear, as shown later. The permeability coe‹cient of
water and air are assumed to be dependent on the eŠec-
tive water saturation as
kws＝kws(swe)j ,
k
kas＝kas(1－swe)h k
where kws is the saturated (maximum) coe‹cient of water
permeability, k as is the dry (maximum) coe‹cient of air
permeability, jk and hk are the material parameters.
By combining these equations, we derive simpliˆed
governing equations which include the momentum
balance equations of the overall three-phase material and
the mass and momentum balance equations (continuity
equations) of the pore water and air with the following
assumptions. 1) The conditions are isothermal, 2) the soil
particles are iincompressible, 3) the mass exchange
among phases can be neglected, and 4) the material time
derivative of relative velocities and advection terms of
pore ‰uids to the soil skeleton can be neglected. The
momentum balance equations of the overall three-phase
material is derived as
ras＝div ss?－(swpw＋sapa)It
＋r b
where r is the overall density of the three-phase material.
The mass and momentum balance equations of the pore
water and air are derived as
tion. Although the governing equations are derived in the
regime of ˆnite strain, we have assumed inˆnitesimal
strain in this study for simplicity.
(8)
Constitutive Equation for Skeleton Stress
A simpliˆed constitutive model for a saturated sandy
soil is used for an unsaturated soil with using a skeleton
stress (e.g., Gallipoli et al., 2003) in place of an eŠective
stress of a saturated soil. Assuming that plastic deforma-
tion occurs only when the deviatoric stress ratio changes,
the yield function is assumed as
(9)
f＝¿h－a¿－k＝¿s/p?－a¿－k＝0 (14)
where p? (＝tr(s?)) is the mean skeleton stress, s is the
deviatoric stress tensor, and k is the material parameter
which deˆnes the elastic region. The kinematic hardening
parameter (back stress) is a, and its nonlinear evolution
rule (Armstrong and Frederick, 1966) is assumed as
a· ＝a(b ·ep－ae· ps) e· ps＝¿ ·e p¿ (15)
where a and b are the material parameters, and ·e p is the
plastic deviatoric strain rate tensor. With the non-associ-
ated ‰ow rule, the plastic potential function is assumed as
g＝¿h－a¿＋Mm ln ( p?/p?a)＝0 (16)
where Mm is the material parameter which deˆnes the crit-
(10)
ical state ratio, and p?a is p? when ¿h－a¿＝0. Finally the
elastic modules are assumed as
K e＝－K*p? G e＝－G *p? (17)
where K e is the elastic bulk modulus, G e is the elastic
shear modulus, K * and G * are the dimensionless elastic
modules, respectively.
Finite Element Formulation and Time Integration
Weak forms of Eqs. (11)–(13) are implemented in a
ˆnite element formulation (Uzuoka et al., 2007). The
Newmark implicit scheme is used for time integration.
The weak forms and time integration method are ex-
plained brie‰y in APPENDICES 1 and 2. The primary
variables are the second-order material time derivative of
the displacement of soil skeleton as, the pore water pres-
sure äpw and the pore air pressure äpa with respect to the soil
(11)
skeleton. The weak forms are linearized and solved by the
Newton-Raphson method iteratively at each time step.
The linearized forms of the weak forms are derived as
Ddws[Das]＋Ddws[D äpw]＋Ddws[D äpa]＝－dws(k)

Ø nsK » DDtp ＋n
w wR s w s a
r Dp Ddww[Das]＋Ddww[D äpw]＋Ddww[D äpa]＝－dww(k)
－nrwRc rwRc ＋swrwR div vs
w
Dt Ddwa[Das]＋Ddwa[D äpw]＋Ddwa[D äpa]＝－dwa(k) (18)

{ }
ws
k s w a
where dw , dw and dw are the weak form of the soil,
＋div (－grad pw＋rwRb－rwRas) ＝0 (12)
g water and air, respectively. Ddws[Das] is the directional
derivative of dws with respect to Das, and dws(k) is the

Ø nsa
UR̃
－nraRc
Dt»
Dspa
＋nraRc
Dspw a aR
Dt
＋s r div vs
residual at the iteration step, (k). The iteration is con-
tinued until the norm of the residual vectors is less than
the convergence tolerance of 1.0×10－7. The unit of each
{ }
kas
＋div (－grad pa＋raRb－raRas) ＝0. (13) residual vector is not the same. The convergence toler-
g
ance is 1.0×10－7 based on the unit ``kN'' in force, ``m''
This simpliˆed formulation is called a u-pw-pa formula- in length, and ``second'' in time. In the ˆnite element for-
1078 MORI ET AL.

mulation, the Galerkin method and isoparametric 8-node

elements are used. The soil skeleton displacement and the
‰uid pressures are approximated at 8 nodes and 4 nodes,
respectively, to avoid volumetric locking.

Implicit Stress Integration

Implicit stress integration and the consistent tangent
modulus at inˆnitesimal strain (e.g., Simo and Taylor,
1985) are used to achieve the convergence of the global
iteration of (18). If the yield function f is positive, then
the following return mapping algorithm in the stress
space is used:
Fig. 1. Topographies in 1966 and 1993
&g
(tr) e
r1＝s?－s? ＋Dgc
&s?
r2＝a－an＋Da
r3 ＝ f (19)
where s?(tr) is the trial skeleton stress for a given strain in-
crement at the global iteration step, Dg is the plastic mul-
tiplier, ce is the elastic tensor, an is a at the previous time
step, and Da is the increment of a. The nonlinear Eqs.
(19) are solved iteratively by the Newton-Raphson
method with respect to s?, a and Dg until the norm of the
left-handed residual vector r of (19) is less than the con-
vergence tolerance of 1.0×10－10. The unit of each resid-
ual vector is not same. The convergence tolerance is 1.0×
10－10 based on the unit ``kN'' in force, ``m'' in length,
and ``second'' in time. When the yield function f is posi-
tive with trial skeleton stress, the skeleton stress and back
stress for a given strain increment at the global iteration Fig. 2. Panorama of target ˆll slope
step are obtained by local iteration of (19) at each stress
integration point. The consistent tangent modulus is ob-
tained as
&s? &s?
cep＝ ＝ (20)
&ee(tr) &e
where cep is the elasto-plastic tensor, ee(tr) is the trial elastic
strain (given strain). The diŠerentiation of (20) is carried
out at each converged stress derived from the local itera-
tion of (19).

THE FILL SLOPE AND MATERIAL PARAMETERS

The Fill Slope for a Case Study
The ˆll slope is located in a housing area developed on
Fig. 3. Plane view of the ˆll slope
hill ground in northeastern Sendai City in the 1970s.
Figure 1 shows a comparison of the present topographi-
cal map around the ˆll slope and a topographical map
made in 1966 before the development. The older
topographical map shows numerous valleys branching
out throughout this region, however this housing area is
smoothly leveled at present. The observed ˆll slope
shown in the oval in Fig. 1 is located in the edge of hous-
ing area. The panorama of the target ˆll slope is shown in
Fig. 2. The plane ˆgure and the estimated cross sectional
view are shown in Figs. 3 and 4, respectively. The base
rock around the observed ˆll slope is sandy tuŠ, and the
ˆll slope was made from crushed sandy tuŠ. The crushed
sandy tuŠ was weathered as time go by, and became the Fig. 4. Cross section of the ˆll slope
 UNSATURATED FILL SLOPE
silty sand. The ˆll slope height is about 25 meters in
height and it has a maximum thickness of about 17
meters. To grasp the looseness of the ˆll slope, we per-
formed standard penetration tests at two points and
Swedish Sounding Tests at 32 points on the ˆll slope. The
results showed that the N-value in the original ground
area was greater than 50. The N-value and converted N-
value in the ˆll part were roughly less than ˆve.
Four seismographs were installed in the ˆll slope and
around the ground. The positions of the measuring
instruments are portrayed in Figs. 3 and 4. The seismo-
graphs, designated as E1, E2, E3, and E4, were respec-
tively installed in the upper natural ground, at the top of
the ˆll slope (ˆll thickness is 17 m), in the middle of the
ˆll slope (ˆll thickness is 8 m), and in the lower natural
ground. The seismograph we used is the E-Catcher pro-
duced by Oyo S. I. A pore water pressure gauge (G.L.
－9.25 m), two water content gauges (G.L. －2.0 m and
－4.0 m) and a rain gauge were also installed around the
location of seismograph E3 in the middle of the ˆll slope.
Material Parameters
The material of the ˆll was sandy soil. The physical and
mechanical properties were investigated with in-situ and
laboratory tests. The material parameters of the constitu-
tive models for skeleton stress and SWCC were deter-
mined through the calibration of the undrained cyclic
triaxial tests with unsaturated soil. For a detailed descrip-
tion of the testing method, refer to Unno et al. (2008).
The specimen was recomposed from sandy soil ob-
tained from the in-situ ˆll slope. The initial dry density of
the specimen was about 1.2 g/cm3, which agreed with the
dry density of the in-situ ˆll. The dry density of the in-situ
soil varied from 1.18 g/cm3 to 1.29 g/cm3. The eŠective
degree of water saturation was from about 23z to 60z
by controlling the air pressure during the isotropic con-
solidation process. After the pore water pressure became
minimal in the consolidation process, the pore air pres-
sure was increased to decrease the degree of saturation.
The capacity of the pore water and the air pressure gauge
was ±100 kPa, and the resolution was 0.05 kPa. The net
stress was about 45 kPa for all specimens and the mean
skeleton stress varied with the initial suction dependent
on initial water saturation. Cyclic shear was applied to
the specimen under undrained air and water conditions.
The input axial strain was a sinusoidal wave with multi-
step amplitudes with single amplitudes of 0.2z, 0.4z,
0.8z, 1.2z, 1.6z and 2.0z every ten cycles. The fre-
quency of the sinusoidal wave was 0.005 Hz. This loading
rate is slow enough to achieve an equilibrium condition
between the air and water pressure. The frequency of the
input axial strain was much slower than that of an earth-
quake. The eŠect of the strain rate on the cyclic shear
strength of the saturated sand was very small (Yoshimi
and Oh-oka, 1975; Tatsuoka et al., 1986). A recent study
(Santucci et al., 1999) on saturated sand showed that the
eŠect of large changes in the strain rate on the stress-
strain relation cannot be disregarded even though the
eŠect of the strain rate on the soil skeleton curve is small.
1079
Fig. 5. Soil Water Characteristic Curves (SWCC) during undrained
cyclic triaxial test
Although the specimens used in this study were unsatu-
rated silty sand, we followed the results of saturated
sand. Further discussion of strain rate dependency for
unsaturated soil is necessary hereafter.
Figure 5(a) shows the SWCC during the undrained cy-
clic triaxial tests. Since the measured SWCC was not on
the main drying and wetting curves obtained from water
retention tests, the scanning curves should be used to
reproduce the SWCC during undrained cyclic shear. Be-
cause the suction during the undrained cyclic triaxial test
can be temporarily negative, as shown in Fig. 5(a), we
used a logistic function to keep the suction continuously
around zero. The logistic SWCC function is shown in Eq.
(9). The logistic SWCC function of Eq. (9) is modiˆed to
reproduce the scanning curves with a simple scaling
method in Fig. 5(b). The scanning curve (B-D) is made by
scaling the main wetting curve. At the beginning of the
undrained triaxial test, the soil moisture condition is lo-
cated at point B. At ˆrst, compress the main wetting
curve (A-C) along the axis of eŠective water saturation
under the condition where point C is ˆxed and the com-
pression ratio is (1－S we0)/(1－S we1). Next, expand the mo-
diˆed main wetting curve (B-C) along the axis of suction
under the condition where point B is ˆxed and the expan-
sion ratio is ( P c0－P c2)/P c0. The value of P c2 is the ˆtting
parameter for the experimental scanning curve. The scan-
ning curve (B-D) is obtained by the above two-step opera-
tions. The equation of the scanning curve (B-D) is shown
as follows.
swe＝
1－swe0
1－swe1
[1 ＋ exp ( a 1g p c
a ＋ b 1g )]
1g－c
Ø
＋ 1 －
1－swe0
1－swe1 »
pc1 pc0
pca＝
pc0 {
p －pc2
c
0
( pc－pc0)＋pc0
} (21)
where pc0 and swe0 are the initial suction and eŠective water
saturation respectively, pc1 (＝pc0) and swe1 are the suction
and eŠective water saturation on the main wetting curve
respectively and pc2 is the suction on the scanning curve at
swe＝1. The modiˆed logistic SWCC roughly reproduce
the measured SWCC during undrained shear shown in
1080 MORI ET AL.

Fig. 5(a). Further investigation on the SWCC during un- suction and the mean skeleton stress do not attain zero,
drained shear is necessary for more precise reproduction. which means that the specimen does not liquefy com-
In the triaxial test simulations, the ˆnite element for- pletely. In the simulated results (denoted ``Model'' in the
mulation presented in the previous section is not used. ˆgures), the model well reproduces the overall tendency
Assuming that the variables in the specimen are of the test results. Therefore, the simpliˆed constitutive
homogeneous, only the local equilibrium is considered. equation of soil skeleton can be applied to predict pore
Table 1 shows the calibrated material parameters of the water and air responses of unsaturated soil in the frame-
constitutive model. Figure 6 shows the time histories of work of three-phase porous media theory. Modiˆcations
pore water pressure, pore air pressure, suction, mean of the constitutive equations are necessary for more pre-
skeleton stress (positive in compression) and the void ra- cise reproduction.
tio from tests and simulations when the initial eŠective
water saturation of 46z. In the test results (denoted
``Test'' in the ˆgures), the pore water and air pressure in- SEEPAGE ANALYSIS
crease, while the suction and mean skeleton stress Seepage analysis is needed to establish the initial condi-
decrease during cyclic undrained shear. In this case, the tions for the dynamic analysis. The initial condition, i.e.,
the distribution of water saturation in the ˆll before the
earthquake, is aŠected by rainfall inˆltration into the ˆll,
Table 1. Material parameters of sandy soil from the ˆll seepage in the ˆll and the out‰ow of ground water from
the ˆll over the long term. Therefore, we carried out a
Elasto-plastic model parameters
two-dimensional seepage analysis in order to establish the
Dimensionless shear modulus, G* 140 initial distribution of water saturation in the ˆll.
Dimensionless bulk modulus, K * 600
Nonlinear hardening parameter, a 5512
Numerical Data of Seepage Analysis
Nonlinear hardening parameter, b －1.8
Critical state stress ratio, Mm 1.8 Figure 7 shows the ˆnite element model of a cross sec-
Yield function parameter, k 0.0245 tion of the ˆll. The position of the cross section is shown
in Fig. 1. Assuming a plane strain condition, the cross
SWCC parameters
section is used for ˆnite element modeling. In the seepage
Maximum degree of saturation, sws 0.99 analyses, all materials are linear elastic materials with
Minimum degree of saturation, swr 0.35
Main drying curve, alg, blg, clg 1.5, 3.0, 0.05
Main wetting curve, alg, blg, clg 0.25, －2.5, 0.2
Scaling parameter, pc2 (kPa) －15

Physical parameters of water and air

Bulk modulus of water, K w (kPa) 1.0×106

Real density of air, raR (t/m3) 1.23×10－ 3
Gas parameter, 1/(R̃U) (s2/m2) 1.25×10－ 5

Fig. 7. Cross sections and boundary conditions of the ˆll for numeri-
cal analysis

Table 2. Material parameters for seismic analysis

Rock Fill Clay Air

n 0.37 0.57 0.64 1.00

rsR (t/m 3) 2.72 2.59 2.72 0.00
rwR (t/m3) 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
kws (m/s) 1.0×10－ 12 1.0×10－7 1.0×10－ 10 10.0
kas (m/s) 1.0×10－ 13 1.0×10－8 1.0×10－ 11 10.0

jk / hk — 3.0/0.05 — —
l (kPa) 293876 127351 99915 0.01
m (kPa) 293877 31838 11102 0.001
Fig. 6. Tests and simulations with the initial eŠective water saturation a 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001
of 46%
 UNSATURATED FILL SLOPE 1081

Lame's coe‹cients l and m in Tables 2. The porosity and

density of the ˆll was obtained from the in-situ soil sam-
ple. The coe‹cient of water permeability of the ˆll was
obtained from the permeation velocity of rainfall based
on in-situ observation and laboratory tests. Other
parameters (rock and clay) were decided to refer to the
report by Sendai City (Sendai City, 2002).
Two typical cases are considered in this study. Case 1
has low ground water level after light precipitation and
Case 2 has high ground water level after heavy precipita-
tion. The initial water distribution in the ˆll was deter-
mined as follows. Because of the di‹culty reproducing
actual rainfall history from the distant past, the precipita- Fig. 8. Distribution of water saturation before an earth quake (whole
tion was assumed to be a virtual constant rainfall. The area)
rainfall was input from the upper boundary through
``aerial elements'', as explained later. At ˆrst, the input-
ted rainfall did not easily inˆltrate the ˆll because of the
small permeability of dry surface element. As the ele-
ments gradually became wet, the permeability of the ele-
ments increased and the water saturation also increased.
When the computed amount of run oŠ at the toe of the
ˆll slope became constant and equal to a particular value,
the water distribution was adopted as the initial water dis-
tribution. In Case 1, the precipitation was 175 mm/year
and the run oŠ at the toe of the ˆll slope roughly cor-
responded to the observed ‰ux (0.03 m3/min) at the toe of
the ˆll when it had not rained for about one week before
measurements were taken. In Case 2, the precipitation
was 236 mm/year and the run oŠ at the toe of the ˆll
slope was 0.06 m3/min when it had rained for 6 days with
a total precipitation of 160.5 mm, as will be explained
later. The smooth inˆltration of rain on the surface of the
ˆll was simulated with ``aerial elements'' with a special
SWCC and a large permeability of water in the vertical
direction (Uzuoka et al., 2008). The aerial element is ex-
plained brie‰y in APPENDIX 3. The use of the aerial ele-
ment made numerical treatment for the switching be-
tween natural and essential boundaries on the surface,
for example, unnecessary. The soil displacement at the
bottom boundary is ˆxed in all directions and the lateral
boundaries are vertical rollers. The water pressure is con-
stant at the upper surface of the clay layer because of the Fig. 9. Distribution of water saturation before an earthquake (ˆll
existence of a pond at the right boundary in Fig. 7(a). slope area)
The seepage analyses are quasi-static analyses under the
gravity force without inertia terms. A large calculation
time is adopted to obtain the steady state conditions of ment model. Because the soil moisture in the ˆll depends
water saturation. The coe‹cient in the Newmark integra- on the suction from the free water surface, most of the ˆll
tion method is g＝1.0 and the time increments are deter- is dry. Constant rain fall is applied to the initial state and
mined to ensure numerical convergence. then the water saturation gradually increases. When rain-
fall is applied, the quantity of input and output water
Numerical Result of Seepage Analysis becomes balanced and the distribution of the water satu-
Figures 8 and 9 show the distributions of water satura- ration becomes a steady state. We deˆned this state as the
tion in both cases when the water distribution became initial distribution of water saturation in the ˆll before an
steady. Figure 9 is the enlarged ˆgure around the part of earthquake, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9 (Cases 1 and 2).
the ˆll slope in Fig. 8. The uppermost ˆgures (the initial The measured precipitation, ground water level and
state) in Figs. 8 and 9 show the initial distributions of soil moisture in the ˆll are shown in Fig. 10. The meas-
water saturation without rainfall. The distributions show urement positions are shown in Figs. 4 and 9. The ground
the balanced state of soil moisture obtained from ap- water level changed from G.L. －7.25 m to G.L. －5.25
plying a free water surface on the pond of the ˆnite ele- m according to precipitation. However, the soil moisture
1082
Fig. 10. The in-situ observed precipitation, ground water level and soil
moisture (volumetric water content)
Fig. 11. Comparison of water saturation (middle of the ˆll slope)
(volumetric water content) did not change notably except
for seasonal changes. The delay between the peak precipi-
tation and the peak groundwater level was about 6–11
hours, which was too short considering the permeability
of the soil. This suggests that the inˆltrated water may
have ‰owed in water channels in the ground.
Figure 11 shows the comparison between the actual ob-
served and computed results of water saturation in the ˆll
slope. A comparison of the water saturation was per-
formed at the middle of the ˆll slope (refer to Fig. 9). In
case 1, the ordinary condition was assumed with a no
rainfall period of about one week. In case 2, the condi-
tions on the 16th Jul. 2007 were assumed: the total
precipitation was 160.5 mm over 6 days and the highest
ground water level was G.L. －5.50 m. As shown in Fig.
11, in both cases, the ground water level (saturation＝
1.0) was partially reproduced at the middle of the ˆll
slope. However, the computed water saturation in the un-
saturated part above the ground water level was smaller
than the actual measured value. In the numerical analy-
sis, the ˆll ground was assumed to be homogeneous and
the moisture distribution was expressed by the continu-
ous soil water characteristic curve, which starts from the
initial ground water level. It should be pointed out that
the actual ˆll is not homogeneous but contains air spaces
and soil blocks everywhere. Therefore, the moisture dis-
tribution of the actual ˆll may not follow the continuous
soil water characteristic curve. Even so, we reproduced
the ground water level assuming that the ˆll ground was
homogeneous. Further studies on soil water characteris-
MORI ET AL.
tics in heterogeneous ground are necessary to reproduce
the actual distribution of water saturation in unsaturated
soil.
VALIDITY OF NUMERICAL METHOD
In this chapter, the comparison between actual meas-
ured seismic motion and numerical result is performed to
validate the reproducibility of the numerical method.
Two seismic data measured actually in the ˆll slope are
used for validation of the numerical method.
Numerical Conditions
The cross section in the Fig. 7 was used for the seismic
analyses. The material parameters were the same as the
seepage analysis in above chapter except for the ``Fill''.
In the seismic analyses, only the ``Fill'' was elasto-plastic
model with the material parameters in Table 1. Moreover
linear Kelvin (Voigt) type viscosities were assumed in all
materials and their viscous coe‹cients were proportional
to the elastic module with multiplier coe‹cients a in
Table 2. The low ground water level (refer to the Case 1
of Figs. 8 and 9) was only used as the initial distribution
of water saturation, because it had not rained heavily be-
fore the two earthquakes.
The boundary conditions for pore water and air were
the same as the seepage analyses. In the seismic analyses
the deconvolved waves were set at the bottom of the ˆnite
element model and free ˆeld responses were set at the
lateral boundaries of the ˆnite element model. The
deconvolved wave was calculated from the measured ac-
celeration records at seismograph E4 in Fig. 3 by using
the multiple re‰ection theory. The free ˆeld responses at
the lateral boundaries were calculated with one dimen-
sional models of the lateral boundaries and the responses
were inputted from the lateral boundary. The boundary
condition in the seismic analysis is shown in Fig. 7(b).
The seismic data measured on 12 Apr. 2007 and 14 Jun.
2008 (denote ``Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku EQ'' hereinafter)
were used for the validation analyses. The maximum ac-
celeration of the EQ on 12 Apr. 2007, observed at the
seismograph E4, was 12.3 cm/s2 and that one of Iwate-
Miyagi Nairiku EQ was 96.8 cm/s2. The information of
earthquakes and the observed data are shown in Table 3.
Figure 12 shows the time histories of acceleration ob-
served at seismograph E4 and input acceleration. The
coe‹cients in Newmark implicit time integration are 0.5
and 0.25. The time increment for calculation is 0.002 sec-
onds.
Numerical Results
Figure 13 shows the acceleration at the top of the ˆll
slope (the position of seismograph E2). In the result of
the EQ on 12 Apr. 2007, the peak time and the whole
shape of acceleration history roughly agreed with the ob-
served one. However the acceleration response of the nu-
merical result was lager than that one of the observed
data. These results indicate that the numerical material
parameters (e.g., soil stiŠness and dumping) were stiŠer
 UNSATURATED FILL SLOPE 1083

Table 3. The information of earthquakes and the observed accelera-

tion

Data Epicenter The ground

surface
Time Mj*1 distance to
Year M/D (H:M:S) Latitude Longitude Depth the epicenter

2007 4/12 22:50:26 38911.9?N 14198.8?E 12 km 4.5 26 km

2008 6/14 8:43:45 39901.7?N 140952.8?E 8 km 7.2 86 km

Data Max. Acc. (cm/s2)

Direction
Year M/D E1 E2 E3 E4

EW 14.41 18.51 27.84 12.32

2007 4/12 NS 23.96 20.45 20.01 9.48
UD 6.19 7.34 5.66 2.52

EW 115.70 160.41 130.93 96.82

2008 6/14 NS 79.27 138.92 101.22 56.73
Fig. 13. Time histories of acceleration at the top of the ˆll in two past
UD 30.51 61.87 38.69 19.71
earthquakes
*1: The magnitude of Japan Meteorological Agency

Fig. 12. Time histories of acceleration (observed (at E4) and input mo-
tions)

than actual ground in the small strain range. In the result

of the Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku EQ, the numerical results
agreed with the observed one until about 3 seconds.
However the phase of the computed wave was gradually
behind the observed one from about 3 seconds to 6 sec-
onds and the computed acceleration responses became
clearly less then the observed one. These phenomena were
induced by the decrease of the skeleton stress and the
shear stiŠness in the bottom part of the ˆll with the high
degree of saturation after the main shock. The detailed
discussion of temporal change in the stiŠness and damp-
ing of soil is given later prediction part with diŠerent dis-
tribution of water saturation (Figs. 17 and 18).
Figure 14 shows the acceleration Fourier spectra at the
top, middle and bottom of the ˆll slope. In the result of
the EQ on 12 Apr. 2007, the positions of peak frequency
of acceleration Fourier spectra were reproduced.
However, the magnitude of spectrum was not repro-
duced. In the result of the Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku EQ, the
high frequency component of the computed result
Fig. 14. Acceleration Fourier spectra in past two earthquakes
became smaller than that of the observed one. However
the distribution of acceleration Fourier spectra was well
reproduced. In particular, the primary natural frequency
at from 2 to 3 Hz was reproduced su‹ciently.
As we used the simpliˆed elasto-plastic model of soil in
this study, a further study on the model performance in
the wide strain range is necessary. In addition, parametric
studies with respect to the initial conditions including
water saturation and soil density are necessary.
PREDICTIONS OF SEISMIC RESPONSES WITH
DIFFERENT DISTRIBUTION OF WATER
SATURATION
In this chapter, the seismic responses dependent on the
1084 MORI ET AL.

initial distribution of water saturation in the ˆll are tively. The PGA of input acceleration is 153.0 cm/s2.
predicted. Assuming two cases of high and low ground
water level in the ˆll, we discuss the acceleration Numerical Results
response, the acceleration response spectra, the distribu- Figure 15 shows the acceleration responses at the top
tions of skeleton stress and shear strain, and the residual of the slope with diŠerent initial distribution of water
displacement resulted from the initial diŠerent distribu- saturation. Until about 6 seconds, the diŠerence in the ac-
tion of water saturation in the ˆll. celeration between the two cases is little; therefore the in-
‰uence of initial distribution of water saturation is not
Numerical Conditions signiˆcant. However, the diŠerences of acceleration
The numerical conditions were the same conditions responses appear after about 6 seconds. The maximum
mentioned above except for the initial conditions and the
input motion. The two initial distributions of water satu-
ration in the ˆll with Case 1 and Case 2 were considered in
the predictions. The diŠerence of ground water level be-
tween Case 1 and Case 2 was about 1.5 meters at the mid-
dle of the ˆll slope and about 4.5 meters at the central ˆll
slope. The calculated scenario earthquake wave was used
for the input wave. This calculated scenario earthquake
wave was obtained from a numerical simulation of future
earthquake (Sendai City, 2002). The information of
scenario earthquake is shown in Table 4. The accelera-
tion of scenario earthquake was calculated at each square
mesh with the size of 500 meters in Miyagi Prefecture,
Japan. The acceleration was given on a stiŠ outcropping
layer with the shear wave velocity of 700 m/s. We used Fig. 16. Acceleration Fourier spectra in scenario earthquake
the acceleration of scenario earthquake as the input ac-
celeration at the bottom of the ˆnite element model. The
time history and the acceleration Fourier spectrum of in-
put acceleration are shown in Figs. 15 and 16 respec-

Table 4. The information of scenario earthquake

Epicenter The ground

Mw*1 surface distance Fig. 17. Output positions of normalized accumulated dissipation
Latitude Longitude Depth to the epicenter
energy and ground water level
38941?N 142955?E 20 km 7.5 144 km

*1: Moment magnitude

Fig. 18. Normalized accumulated dissipation energy (``Low'': Case 1,

Fig. 15. Time histories of acceleration in scenario earthquake ``High'': Case 2)
 UNSATURATED FILL SLOPE 1085

acceleration responses in Case 1 and Case 2 are 453.0

cm/s2 and 325.0 cm/s2 respectively. The maximum ac-
celeration response in Case 1 is larger than that in Case 2.
Figure 16 shows the acceleration Fourier spectra of input
acceleration and response acceleration on the top of the
ˆll slope. The frequency of 2.2 Hz and 3.3 Hz were am-
pliˆed on the top of ˆll slope. The Fourier amplitude in Fig. 19. Spectrum output positions and ground water level
Case 2 was smaller than that in Case 1.
These diŠerences between two cases were due to the
softening of soil element because the seismic energy was
dissipated in the softened soil elements. In this section we
use the accumulated dissipation energy to discuss the
eŠect of the ground water level on the stress-strain behav-
ior in the softened soil elements. The time history of ac-
cumulated dissipation energy clearly shows the temporal
change in the stiŠness and damping of soil. Figure 17
shows the output locations of normalized accumulated
dissipation energy and ground water level. Figure 18
shows the normalized accumulated dissipation energy at
each location. The normalized accumulated dissipation
energy (Kazama et al., 2000) is deˆned as
t
DW(t)＝
ft(g)g· (t)dt
0
(22)

where t(g) is the shear stress in terms of shear strain g and

g· (t) is the shear strain rate. The initial degree of satura-
tion is diŠerent according to the ground water level as
shown in the legends. In the results at positions d, e and f,
the normalized accumulated dissipation energy with high
ground water level was larger than that with low ground
water level. The normalized accumulated dissipation
energy monotonically increased after about 6.0 seconds.
This tendency indicates the increase in plastic strain ac-
cording to the softening of soil element. Larger shear
stress was applied, larger seismic energy was dissipated.
As a result of the dissipation of seismic energy in the high
degree of saturation area, the shear stress propagated to
the upper ground became smaller in the case of high
ground water level. Therefore the normalized accumulat-
ed dissipation energy became smaller at the position a, b
and c in the case of high ground water level after about 10
seconds (indicated as the dark gray area). The dissipation
of seismic energy in the high degree of saturation area
caused the diŠerent responses between two cases in Fig.
15.
Next, the acceleration Fourier spectrum and the ac-
celeration spectral ratio are shown to discuss the eŠect of
the ground water level on the acceleration Fourier spec-
trum. The output positions of acceleration Fourier spec-
trum and the ground water level are shown in Fig. 19.
Figure 20 shows the acceleration Fourier spectrum and
the acceleration spectral ratio at several depths of the ˆll
part. The seismic motion inputted at the base became
strong toward a ground surface. The predominant fre-
quencies of the ˆll ground were 0.5 Hz, 2.0 Hz and 7.0
Hz. The amplitude of acceleration Fourier spectra in
Case 1 was larger than that in Case 2; particularly the
diŠerences in the acceleration responses at 7.0 Hz were
remarkable. According to the acceleration spectral ratio,
Fig. 20. Acceleration Fourier spectra and spectrum ratio
the ampliˆcation characteristics depend on the ground
water level. Namely the peak frequency of acceleration
spectral ratio changed on E/F in Case 1 and on C/D in
Case 2 respectively. The acceleration spectral ratios in
low frequency domain (less than 2.0 Hz) were
predominant in the part under the ground water level,
while the acceleration spectral ratios in high frequency
domain (larger than 2.0 Hz) were predominant in the part
above the ground water level. The numerical results clear-
ly showed that frequency characteristics of seismic
response were aŠected by the initial distribution of water
saturation in the ˆll ground.
Figure 21 shows the distributions of Skeleton Stress
Reduction Ratio (SSRR hereinafter) in Case 1 and Case
2. The SSRR was deˆned as 1－p?/p?0, where p?0 is the ini-
tial value of p?. In Case 1, the SSRR rose from the central
ˆll and the area with large SSRR expanded to the around
area. The distribution of SSRR in the unsaturated parts
(above ground water level) became dapple. In Case 2, the
SSRR above the ground water level rose until about 6 sec-
1086
Fig. 21. Distribution of skeleton stress reduction ratio
onds that the SSRR was less than 1.0 at the bottom of the
ˆll. However, the SSRR above the ground water level
changed little after about 10 seconds that the SSRR
reached 1.0 at the bottom of the ˆll. These phenomena
were due to the liquefaction of saturated soil and the
shear stress did not propagate to the unsaturated part
above the ground water level.
Figure 22 shows the distributions of shear strain in
Case 1 and Case 2. The displacement of the ˆll also was
expressed in the ˆgure, and the displacement was magni-
ˆed 10 times. The residual horizontal displacement at the
top of the ˆll slope in Case 1 and Case 2 were about 0.3
meters and about 0.9 meters respectively. Case 2 had
broader large shear strain area and larger displacement
than Case 1. In Case 1, the part with large shear strain
was limited near the bottom of the ˆll. In Case 2, the
shear strain was large at the bottom part of the ˆll slope,
MORI ET AL.
Fig. 22. Distribution of shear strain
the bench in the central ˆll and the boundary between cut
and ˆll ground. According to the numerical results, the
part with large shear strain laid at the part with high
degree of water saturation and low conˆning pressure. At
the boundary between cut and ˆll ground, the large shear
strain and displacement were generated due to the exis-
tence of ground water near the boundary in Case 2, while
the shear strain and displacement were not generated in
Case 1 which had no ground water near the boundary.
The progress of shear strain at the boundary between cut
and ˆll ground was dependent on the existence of ground
water near the boundary. Many houses have been
damaged with the residual displacement at the boundary
between cut and ˆll ground during past earthquakes
(Asada et al., 1980; Yanagisawa et al., 1994); however the
relationship between ground residual deformation and
ground water level at the boundary between cut and ˆll
 UNSATURATED FILL SLOPE
Fig. 23. Deformation and water saturation in the each cross section
ground was not clear. The numerical results showed that
the ground water level should be investigated at the
boundary between cut and ˆll ground for understanding
the mechanism of past damages and precise predictions
of seismic responses of a ˆll.
Figure 23 shows the displacements of at the ˆll part,
the top of the ˆll slope and the middle of the ˆll slope in
Fig. 9. The vertical axis shows the height from the base
rock and the horizontal axis shows the residual displace-
ment. And the degree of water saturation also is shown in
the ˆgure. The residual horizontal displacements in Case
1 and Case 2 were about 0.3 meters and about 0.9 meters
respectively. In Case 1, the shear strain is large near the
bottom of the ˆll and the upper part of the ˆll slides
horizontally toward the pond. The area with large strain
is limited in the bottom of the saturated ˆll. Meanwhile
the shear strain is large in the whole part of the saturated
ˆll in Case 2. In both cases, the variations of residual dis-
placement dependent on the degree of water saturation in
the unsaturated part are not clear. Although we need fur-
ther studies on the quantitative prediction of large resid-
ual displacement, the initial distribution of water satura-
tion clearly aŠects the residual displacement of the ˆll
slope after the earthquake.
CONCLUSIONS
A case study on numerical predictions of distributions
of water saturation and seismic responses in the actual ˆll
slope were performed by using the dynamic three-phase
(soil, water and air) coupled analysis based on porous
media theory. As a result, following ˆndings were ob-
tained.
1) The unsaturated seepage analysis was performed for
1087
reproducing the moisture distribution in the actual ˆll
slope. As a result, the shape of ground water level was
partially reproduced from the quite dry ˆll slope ele-
ment by using virtual constant precipitation.
However, the observation results of the moisture dis-
tribution above the ground water level were not repro-
duced. Further studies on soil water characteristics in
a heterogeneous ground are necessary to reproduce
the actual distribution of water saturation in the un-
saturated soil.
2) The numerical method was validated for the two past
earthquakes. As for the EQ on 12 Apr. 2007, the nu-
merical method reproduced the positions of peak fre-
quency of acceleration Fourier spectra although it
slightly overestimated the peak acceleration in the
time history. As for the Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku EQ, the
numerical method reproduced the primary natural fre-
quency at from 2 to 3 Hz in the acceleration Fourier
spectra although it underestimated the time history of
acceleration after the maximum acceleration.
3) The seismic response analyses of the unsaturated ˆll
slope which had diŠerent distributions of water satu-
ration were performed. The numerical results clearly
showed that frequency characteristics of seismic
response and the residual displacement of the ˆll slope
were aŠected by the initial distribution of water satu-
ration in the ˆll ground. The ground water level at the
boundary between cut and ˆll ground should be inves-
tigated for understanding the mechanism of past
damages and precise predictions of seismic responses
of a ˆll.
4) In this case study the variations of residual displace-
ment dependent on the degree of water saturation in
the unsaturated part were not clear. The developments
of a novel in-situ observation method of the realistic
distributions of water saturation in the unsaturated ˆll
and their constitutive modeling are desired for
reproducing water distribution and seismic response.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The in-situ observation in this study was supported by
Mr. Katsuya Matsushita (Misawa Homes Institute of
Research and Development Co., Ltd), Mr. Atsushi
Kawasaki (Misawa Homes Institute of Research and De-
velopment Co., Ltd) and Mr. Shingo Sato (Fukken
Gijyutsu Consultant).
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APPENDIX 1: FINITE ELEMENT FORMURATION
The ˆnite element method is used for the spatial dis-
cretization. The governing equations of the boundary-
value problem for a simple body Bs with boundary &Bs in
the current conˆguration of the solid skeleton consist of
the strong forms (Eqs. (11), (12) and (13)) and the follow-
ing boundary conditions.
 UNSATURATED FILL SLOPE 1089

fØ »
us＝ šus on &Bsu (A1–1) n(1－sw) Dspa
dw a ＝ d pa －nraRc dv
sn＝(s?－ špI )n＝tš on &Bst (A1–2) Bs UR̃ Dt
pw＝ špw on &Bswp (A1–3) s w
Dp
nswpwRvws・n＝qw･n＝ šqw on &Bswp
pa＝ špa on &Bsap
(A1–4)
(A1–5)
＋
fdp nr c Dt dv
Bs
a aR

nsapaRvas・n＝qa･n＝ šqa on &Bsap

s
where šu is the prescribed displacement vector of solid
(A1–6)
＋
fdp (1－s )r div v dv
Bs
a w aR s

fgrad dp・{ g (－grad p ＋r }

as
skeleton at &Bsu, špw, and špa are the prescribed pore water k a a aR
－ b－raRas) dv
and air pressures at &Bswp and &Bsap respectively. tš is the Bs

prescribed traction vector at &Bst, šqw and šqa are the

prescribed mass ‰ux on a unit area with unit normal vec-
tor n at &Bswq and &Bsaq respectively. The decomposed
＋
fdp šq da＝0.
&Bsap
a a
(A1–13)

boundaries hold The ˆnite element formulation in the current conˆgu-

s s s s s s s ration is derived by applying the standard Galerkin
& B ＝ & B ! & B ＝ & B ! & B ＝ &B ! &B
u t wp wp ap ap
method in which the test functions are approximated by
&Bsu?&Bst＝&B ?&B ＝&B ?&B ＝0 s
wp
s
wp
s
ap
s
ap (A1–7)
the same shape functions used to approximate the prima-
Considering the arbitrary test function dvs which satisˆes ry variables. The diŠerent shape functions between solid
skeleton and pore ‰uid are used for the approximations
dvs＝0 on &Bsu, (A1–8)
of the displacement and pressures to satisfy the discrete
the weak form of the momentum balance equation, Eq. LBB conditions (Zienkiewicz and Taylor, 1991) for the
(11), and the natural boundary conditions (A1–2) is ob- locally undrained case at inˆnitesimal deformation. In
tained in the current conˆguration as the numerical cases, an isoparametric eight-node mixed
ˆnite element (Q8P4) interpolation is used. The displace-
dws＝
frdv・a dv＋fdd ･s?dv－fšp div dv ･s?dv
B s
s s

Bs
s

Bs
s ment of the solid skeleton is interpolated using the eight-
node serendipity interpolation functions N sn,

－
frdv ･bdv－fdv・tš da＝0.
B s
s
(A1–9)
s
B
t
s
use＝ S N snusn
8

n＝ 1
(A1–14)

Considering the arbitrary test function dpw which satisˆes where use is the approximated displacement of solid skele-
ton in the element and usn is the displacement at the eight
dpw＝0 on &Bswp, (A1–10)
nodes. The pore water and pore air pressures are approxi-
the weak form of the mass and momentum balance equa- mated with bilinear interpolation function N fn,
tion of pore water, Eq. (12), and the natural boundary 4 4
conditions (A1–4) is obtained in the current conˆguration pwe＝ S N fn pwn, pae＝ S N fn pan (A1–15)
n＝ 1 n＝ 1
as
where pwe and pae are the approximated pore water and

fdp Ø K －nr c » Dt dv
w wR s w
ns r Dp pore air pressures, respectively, in the element; and pwn
dw w ＝ w
w
wR

Bs and pan are the pore water and air pressure, respectively, at
Dp s a the four corner nodes of the mixed element.
＋
fdp nr c Dt dv＋fdp s r div v dv
Bs
w wR

Bs
w w wR s

{ g (－grad p ＋r b －r a )}dv
ws
k APPENDIX 2: TIME INTEGRATION
－
f grad dp ・
Bs
w w wR w wR s

In dynamic analyses, the Newmark time integration

scheme is used for the displacement of the solid skeleton,
＋
fdp šq da＝0.
&Bswp
w w
(A1–11)
us＝ust＋Dtvst＋
1
Dt 2(1－2b)ast＋bDt 2as (A2–1)
a 2
Similarly, considering the arbitrary test function dp
vs＝vst＋(1－g)Dtast＋gDtas (A2–2)
which satisˆes
where the subscript t denotes the previous time. The vari-
dpa＝0 on &Bsap, (A1–12)
ables with the subscript t are known at the current time
the weak form of the mass and momentum balance equa- and are constant during Newton-Raphson iteration; Dt is
tion of pore air, Eq. (13), and the natural boundary con- the time increment, and b and g are the numerical
ditions (A1–6) is obtained in the current conˆguration as parameters. Similarly, the evolutions of pore water and
air pressures are expressed as
1090 MORI ET AL.

1
pw＝pwt＋Dt ·pwt＋ Dt 2(1－2b) äpwt＋bDt 2 äpw (A2–3)
2
·pw＝ ·pwt＋(1－g)Dt äpwt＋gDt äpw (A2–4)
1
pa＝pat＋Dt ·pat＋ Dt 2(1－2b) äpat＋bDt 2 äpa (A2–5)
2
·pa＝ ·pat＋(1－g)Dt äpat＋gDt äpa (A2–6)
s
where _ (＝D /Dt) denotes the material time derivative
of  with respect to the solid skeleton.
In quasi-static analyses, only the velocity components Fig. A3–1 SWCC and relative permeability of aerial element
are considered, and the equations take the form
us＝ust＋(1－g)Dtvst＋gDtvs (A2–7)
roughly zero or unity of water saturation in the at-
pa＝pat＋(1－g)Dt ·pat＋gDt ·pa (A2–8)
mosphere as shown in Fig. A3–1. The relationship be-
pw＝pwt＋(1－g)Dt ·pwt＋gDt ·pw (A2–9)
tween eŠective water saturation and suction is com-
puted by van Genuchten model (van Genuchten, 1980)
with
APPENDIX 3: AERIAL ELEMENT
swe＝s1＋(avgpc)n t
－m vg vg
(A3–1)
Smooth inˆltration of rain on the ˆll surface is simulat-
ed with ``aerial elements''. The aerial element simulates where avg, nvg and mvg are the material parameters. avg
water and air ‰ow in the atmosphere part above the ˆll ＝5.0 (m2/kN), nvg＝3.0 and mvg＝3.0 are used in the
surface. Although the formulation of aerial element is the analyses.
same as the soil element above mentioned, the material 3. The aerial element has large permeability of water and
parameters of aerial element have the following features air with 10 m/s to reproduce fast ‰ow of ‰uids in the
diŠerent from the soil element. atmosphere. The permeability of water and air depend
1. The porosity of the aerial element is unity and the den- on the eŠective water saturation with Eq. (10). zvg＝
sity of soil particle is zero. The nodes of the soil skele- 0.1 and hvg＝10.0 are used in the analyses. The relative
ton of the aerial element are ˆxed in the atmosphere. permeability of water (kws/kws as as
s ) and air (k /ks ) also
2. The aerial element has a special SWCC to reproduce are shown in Fig. A3–1.