Study on the variation of pore water pressure with different depth due to rainfall

Slope failure is one of the most common problem happened in many regions
including Malaysia. It may occur on natural, fill and cut slope as well as
embankments. Most of the analyses show that the infiltration of rainfall into the
slope triggered the slope failure. This paper will concentrate more on the
variation of pore water pressure and how the presences of rainfall affect the pore
water pressure at different depth. Thus, an experimental work on the pore water
pressure is carried out using tensiometers and rainfall measuring devices on a cut
slope in the Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS campus. The data collected is
based on the two sets of information which are the amount of rainfall and the
changes in pore water pressure subjected to different depth due to rainfall. From
the data, the pore water pressure varies and increases with time according to the
rainfall pattern. Though, there is no positive pore water pressure developed either
at 0.6 m depth or 1.5 m depth. Studies shows that the changes in pore water
pressure at the slope subjected to rainfall do not affect the slope stability.