Numerical Stability Analysis of Baota Mountain in Yan'an City

Under the increase of extreme rainfall, the suction and shearing strength of saturated-unsaturated slope soil matrixes are reducing due to the raise of infiltration, and easily lead to the engineering accidents like landslides. It is important to clearly understand the property variation of saturated-unsaturated soil during infiltration process. Therefore, based on the long-term (2008–2013) observation, a Geo-Studio model of Baota Mountain in Yan'an City has been set up to numerically simulate the slope stability according to different rainfall conditions. The infiltration threshold of the slope body induced by the sliding mass in the west of Baota Mountain (cumulative infiltration of slope surface 100mm) has been obtained from the modelling simulation and further applied to the real-time early warning system of Baota Mountain. The conclusion of this paper plays an important role for technically supporting Baota Mountain protection, and has certain-levelled reference value for future research on the early warming of slope stability in other mountain slopes.