CEE at Illinois professor Timothy Stark has received a $315,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for his proposal on Multi-Dimensional and Multi-Physics Analysis of Rainfall-Induced Landslides and Runout. This project will build on his CEE at Illinois Rapid Response Grant-funded study of the devastating Oso, Wash., landslide, which caused extensive damage and loss of life in 2014. 

With the NSF funding, Stark will develop a three-dimensional (3D) slope stability model for unsaturated and saturated conditions that can be used to assess the stability of a slope and quantify the associated risk to people and infrastructure. The 3D model will be an improvement on traditional two-dimensional models by taking into account additional factors such as: effective stresses under both saturated and unsaturated conditions; stress-dependent unsaturated and saturated strength envelopes; 3D slide mass geometry, volume, shear forces, and boundary conditions; spatial variation and depth of the unsaturated zone and hydrostatic pore-water pressures across the slide mass; and variation in unsaturated and saturated soil shear strength across the slide mass.

Ultimately, the model will improve landslide detection and prediction, and help with land-use planning and policy decisions.