Development of an Advanced Landslide Simulation Using Clustering Technology

Vegetation has been used as an ecological measure to mitigate landslides. Some computational studies have focused on soil enforcement by plant roots. Generally, root system architecture is important on the relative influence of different soil failure modes. However, root system architectures considered in the past literature were simple shaped, such as straight bars or chained cylinders, and did not have branched shape as in the real root systems. In this study, the motion of soil particles interacting with the root growth model by Clausnitzer and Hopmans is computed in the framework of the discrete element method, and the effects on soil reinforcement are investigated. The time evolution of the soil under shear deformation applied impulsively at the initial time is reproduced. It is found that the distribution of soil particles interacting with the roots increases and also roots expand as time evolves.