Effect of shear band thickness on the termo-hydromechanical coupled analysis of landslides

Abstract

Thermal effects induced by the own motion of an unstable mass have been included in the analysis of the post-failure behavior in early works, most of them with the aim of looking for the causes of the rapid acceleration of Vajont landslide (Italy, 1963). Some limitations of these contributions, including recently published papers, lies in the fact that (a) the analyzed landslide geometries are simple and (b) the plastic work dissipation, inducing heat, is concen-trated in a shear band defined by the contacts between rigid bodies. This contribution general-izes previous ideas and presents a numerical approach capable of including thermally induced pore water pressure in landslide analyses. Special attention is given to the effect of the shear band thickness, which becomes relevant in numerical simulations.