Characterisation of historical quick clay landslides and input parameters for Q-Bing

Abstract

The post-failure mechanism associated to Norwegian quick clay landslides is a complex natural phenomenon. An attempt is made in the present study to characterize the mobility of such landslides on the basis of well-documented cases and available relationships from laboratory data. Factors affecting mobilization into flows and run-out distances are discussed. During a landslide the flow behavior can be quite complex and various types of flow behavior can exist depending on the clay type, sensitivity, remoulded shear strength, pore-water salinity, mineralogy, and water content. Results show that the remoulded shear strength in soil mechanics is similar to values of yield strength in rheology. There is, however, a large discrepancy between values of viscosity determined empirically from laboratory data and those obtained from back-calculation of landslide events. Hence, there is a need for field and laboratory calibration of these models.