PROBABILISTIC MODELING OF RAINFALL INDUCED LANDSLIDE HAZARD ASSESSMENT IN SAN JUAN LA LAGUNA, SOLOLÁ, GUATEMALA

The municipality of San Juan La Laguna, Guatemala is home to approximately 5,200 people and located on the western side of the Lake Atitlán caldera. Steep slopes surround all but the eastern side of San Juan. The Lake Atitlán watershed is susceptible to many natural hazards, but most predictable are the landslides that can occur annually with each rainy season, especially during high-intensity events. Hurricane Stan hit Guatemala in October 2005; the resulting flooding and landslides devastated the Atitlán region. Locations of landslide and non-landslide points were obtained from field observations and orthophotos taken following Hurricane Stan. This study used data from multiple attributes, at every landslide and non-landslide point, and applied different multivariate analyses to optimize a model for landslides prediction during high-intensity precipitation events like Hurricane Stan. The attributes considered in this study are: geology, geomorphology, distance to faults and streams, land use, slope, aspect, curvature, plan curvature, profile curvature and topographic wetness index. The attributes were pre-evaluated for their ability to predict landslides using four different attribute evaluators, all available in the open source data mining software Weka: filtered subset, information gain, gain ratio and chi-squared. Three multivariate algorithms (decision tree J48, logistic regression and BayesNet) were optimized for landslide prediction using different attributes. The following statistical parameters were used to evaluate model accuracy: precision, recall, F measure and area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The algorithm BayesNet yielded the most accurate model and was used to build a probability map of landslide initiation points. The probability map developed in this study was also compared to the results of a bivariate landslide susceptibility analysis conducted for the watershed, encompassing Lake Atitlán and San Juan. Landslides from Tropical Storm Agatha 2010 were used to independently validate this study’s multivariate model and the bivariate model. The ultimate aim of this study is to share the methodology and results with municipal contacts from the author\u27s time as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer, to facilitate more effective future landslide hazard planning and mitigation

Physically based estimation of rainfall thresholds triggering shallow landslides in volcanic slopes of Southern Italy

On the 4th and 5th of March 2005, about 100 rainfall-induced landslides occurred along volcanic slopes of Camaldoli Hill in Naples, Italy. These started as soil slips in the upper substratum of incoherent and welded volcaniclastic deposits, then evolved downslope according to debris avalanche and debris flow mechanisms. This specific case of slope instability on complex volcaniclastic deposits remains poorly characterized and understood, although similar shallow landsliding phenomena have largely been studied in other peri-volcanic areas of the Campania region underlain by carbonate bedrock. Considering the landslide hazard in this urbanized area, this study focused on quantitatively advancing the understanding of the predisposing factors and hydrological conditions contributing to the initial landslide triggering. Borehole drilling, trial pits, dynamic penetrometer tests, topographic surveys, and infiltration tests were conducted on a slope sector of Camaldoli Hill to develop a geological framework model. Undisturbed soil samples were collected for laboratory testing to further characterize hydraulic and geotechnical properties of the soil units identified. In situ soil pressure head monitoring probes were also installed. A numerical model of two-dimensional variably saturated subsurface water flow was parameterized for the monitored hillslope using field and laboratory data. Based on the observed soil pressure head dynamics, the model was calibrated by adjusting the evapotranspiration parameters. This physically based hydrologic model was combined with an infinite-slope stability analysis to reconstruct the critical unsaturated/saturated conditions leading to slope failure. This coupled hydromechanical numerical model was then used to determine intensity–duration (I-D) thresholds for landslide initiation over a range of plausible rainfall intensities and topographic slope angles for the region. The proposed approach can be conceived as a practicable method for defining a warning criterion in urbanized areas threatened by rainfall-induced shallow landslides, given the unavailability of a consistent inventory of past landslide events that prevents a rigorous empirical analysis

A novel ensemble artificial intelligence approach for gully erosion mapping in a semi-arid watershed (Iran)

© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. In this study, we introduced a novel hybrid artificial intelligence approach of rotation forest (RF) as a Meta/ensemble classifier based on alternating decision tree (ADTree) as a base classifier called RF-ADTree in order to spatially predict gully erosion at Klocheh watershed of Kurdistan province, Iran. A total of 915 gully erosion locations along with 22 gully conditioning factors were used to construct a database. Some soft computing benchmark models (SCBM) including the ADTree, the Support Vector Machine by two kernel functions such as Polynomial and Radial Base Function (SVM-Polynomial and SVM-RBF), the Logistic Regression (LR), and the Naïve Bayes Multinomial Updatable (NBMU) models were used for comparison of the designed model. Results indicated that 19 conditioning factors were effective among which distance to river, geomorphology, land use, hydrological group, lithology and slope angle were the most remarkable factors for gully modeling process. Additionally, results of modeling concluded the RF-ADTree ensemble model could significantly improve (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.906) the prediction accuracy of the ADTree model (AUC = 0.882). The new proposed model had also the highest performance (AUC = 0.913) in comparison to the SVM-Polynomial model (AUC = 0.879), the SVM-RBF model (AUC = 0.867), the LR model (AUC = 0.75), the ADTree model (AUC = 0.861) and the NBMU model (AUC = 0.811)

Some Approaches to the Prediction of Permeability Parameters in a Finite Element Program for Early Warning

Recently, landslides often occurred in natural soil slopes in the tropical region, which correlate with the rainy season. Rainfall infiltration leads to groundwater level fluctuations. The increased positive pore-water pressures due to rainfall influence have affected the properties and behavior of the unsaturated soil slope. In this research, the Finite Element Method of SEEP/W and SLOPE/W analyzes the factor safety of the slope affected by pore water pressure change due to rainfall. The Soil Water Characteristic Curve (SWCC) and Hydraulic Conductivity function were obtained from sieve analysis and Atterberg's limit. In addition, unsaturated soil properties from the UNSODA code are estimated based on grain-size distribution using the SWRC program. The study area is in Khanom District, southern Thailand. The results show that the soil slope at the site became unstable on November 18, 2021, with F.S. = 1.0, which agrees well with the date of the disaster. In conclusion, the slope stability analysis without the parameters from the unsaturated soil hydraulic database (UNSODA) leads to the F.S. value being higher than the actual value, and the alarm estimation would be inaccurate. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-12-014 Full Text: PD

An Optimized Grey GM(2,1) Model and Forecasting of Highway Subgrade Settlement

Grey prediction technique is a useful tool for few data analysis and short term forecasting. GM(2,1) model is one of the most important grey models. For improving the precision and prediction ability, we proposed a structure optimized GM(2,1) model, namely, SOGM(2,1) model. This study contributes grey prediction theory on three points. First, SOGM(2,1) model utilizes background sequence and inverse accumulating generated sequence to construct new grey equation with optimized structure, and then estimation of parameters is derived based on least errors. Second, reflection equation is constructed and the solving process is derived with the time response function acquired. Third, we put forward a new method for establishing initial values of time response function. After that, the new model is used to predict highway settlement of an engineering assessment. Comparing with other models, the results show that SOGM(2,1) is effective and practicable to forecast

Stability prediction of Himalayan residual soil slope using artificial neural network

In the past decade, advances in machine learning (ML) techniques have resulted in developing sophisticated models that are capable of modelling extremely complex multi-factorial problems like slope stability analysis. The literature review indicates that considerable works have been done in slope stability using ML, but none of them covers the analysis of residual soil slope. The present study aims to develop an artificial neural network (ANN) model that can be employed for evaluating the factor of safety of Shiwalik Slopes in the Himalayan Region. Data obtained from numerical analysis of a residual soil slope were used to develop two ANN models (ANN1 and ANN2 utilising eleven input parameters, and scaled-down number of parameters based on correlation coefficient, respectively). A four-layer, feed-forward back-propagation neural network having the optimum number of hidden neurons is developed based on trial-and-error method. The results derived from ANN models were compared with those achieved from numerical analysis. Additionally, several performance indices such as coefficient of determination (R2), root mean square error, variance account for, and residual error were employed to evaluate the predictive performance of the developed ANN models. Both the ANN models have shown good prediction performance; however, the overall performance of the ANN2 model is better than the ANN1 model. It is concluded that the ANN models are reliable, valid, and straightforward computational tools that can be employed for slope stability analysis during the preliminary stage of designing infrastructure projects in residual soil slope. © 2020, Springer Nature B.V

Daily Maximum Rainfall Forecast Affected by Tropical Cyclones using Grey Theory

This research aims to develop a model for forecasting daily maximum rainfall caused by tropical cyclones over Northeastern Thailand during August and September 2022 and 2023. In the past, the ARIMA or ARIMAX method to forecast rainfall was used in research. It is a short-term rainfall prediction. In this research, the Grey Theory was applied as it is an approach that manages limited and discrete data for long-term forecasting. The Grey Theory has never been used to forecast rainfall that is affected by tropical cyclones in Northeastern Thailand. The Grey model GM(1,1) was analyzed with the highest daily cumulative rainfall data during the August and September tropical cyclones of the years 2018–2021, from the weather stations in Northeastern Thailand in 17 provinces. The results showed that in August 2022 and 2023, only Nong Bua Lamphu province had a highest daily rainfall forecast of over 100 mm, while the other provinces had values of less than 70 mm. For September 2022 and 2023, there were five provinces with the highest daily rainfall forecast of over 100 mm. The average of mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of the maximum rainfall forecast model in August and September is approximately 20 percent; therefore, the model can be applied in real scenarios. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-08-02 Full Text: PD

A framework for temporal and spatial rockfall early warning using micro-seismic monitoring

Rockfall risk is usually characterized by a high frequency of occurrence, difficulty in prediction (given high velocity, lack of noticeable forerunners, abrupt collapse, and complex mechanism), and a relatively high potential vulnerability, especially against people and communication routes. Considering that larger rockfalls and rockslides are generally anticipated by an increased occurrence of events, in this study, a framework based on microseismic monitoring is introduced for a temporal and spatial rockfall early warning. This approach is realized through the detection, classification, and localization of all the rockfalls recorded during a 6-month-long microseismic monitoring performed in a limestone quarry in central Italy. Then, in order to provide a temporal warning, an observable quantity of accumulated energy, associated to the rockfall rolling and bouncing and function of the number and volume of events in a certain time window, has been defined. This concept is based on the material failure method developed by Fukuzono-Voight. As soon as the first predicted time of failure and relative warning time are declared, all the rockfalls occurred in a previous time window can be located in a topographic map to find the rockfall susceptible area and thus to complement the warning with spatial information. This methodology has been successfully validated in an ex post analysis performed in the aforementioned quarry, where a large rockfall was forecasted with a lead time of 3 min. This framework provides a novel way for rockfall spatiotemporal early warning, and it could be helpful for activating traffic lights and closing mountain roads or other transportation lines using the knowledge of the time and location of a failure. Since this approach is not based on the detection of the triggering events (like for early warnings based on rainfall thresholds), it can be used also for earthquake-induced failures