Influence of forest stands and root morphologies on hillslope stability

Temgoua, André Guy Tranquille; Kokutse, Nomessi; Kavazović, Zanin

doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2016.06.073

Cited by 39 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…laricio (Poir.) Maire can significantly contribute to soil slope stabilization and, providing that appropriate forest management practices are used, could also allow for recolonization by other late-successional trees and woody shrubs, further stabilizing the soil, considering that diverse tree root types greatly contribute to slope stability [65]. Knowledge of the behavior of root systems can be helpful for designing and using bioengineering techniques [16,56,66] and can be useful for mapping slope stability in wooded areas, particularly in Mediterranean environments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Root Biomechanical Traits in a Montane Mediterranean Forest Watershed: Variations with Species Diversity and Soil Depth

Moresi

Maesano

Matteucci

et al. 2019

Forests

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Plant roots play a key role in stabilizing slopes, particularly in the Mediterranean region, characterized by rough and unstable terrain. However, forest species differ in their stabilizing capacities. The purpose of this study is to fill the gap of knowledge on root biomechanical properties of relevant Mediterranean trees and shrubs in relation to slope stability. Root specimens of typical montane Mediterranean tree and shrub species were sampled in Southern Italy. Root characteristics, such as tensile strength (Tr) and root area ratio (RAR), were assessed from live roots sampled in trenches, while root cohesion was calculated. Power law functions yielded the best fit for the relationship of Tr versus root diameter; however, no significant relationship was found between root strength and root moisture content. RAR varied amongst different tree and shrub species. Roots of Quercus cerris L. were the most resistant to breaking under tension, while roots of Ilex aquifolium L. had the highest tensile strength among all shrub species. Results provide quantitative information on the role of root systems of montane Mediterranean forest species in stabilizing soils and will improve modeling of landslide susceptibility to the prevention and mitigation of natural hazards in mountain environments.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Root Biomechanical Traits in a Montane Mediterranean Forest Watershed: Variations with Species Diversity and Soil Depth

Moresi

Maesano

Matteucci

et al. 2019

Forests

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“…The mechanism through which root-reinforced soil is related to concrete reinforcement mainly plays the role of shear stress and tensile strength effect. The effect of root reinforcement increases the cohesive strength of soil, decreases soil deformation, prevents the incidence of surface tension cracks, and can avoid slope failure initiated by triggering factors [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. The shear stress is developed in the soil and transferred to the ground as tensile resistance in the roots, which ensures mechanical reinforcement by the roots [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The effect of plant roots on slope stability can be divided into hydrological and mechanical factors, which can be valuable to ensure slope stability [1,2,5,21,[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. With regards to the hydrological effects, plants intercept rainfall allowing it to slowly infiltrate into the soil by reducing the runoff velocity and, thus, reduces soil erosion [7,8,38]. Additionally, vegetation can reduce soil moisture by means of transpiration, which increase the matrix suction of the soil, resulting in an increase in the soil shear strength [7,14,37].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability Analysis of Plant-Root-Reinforced Shallow Slopes along Mountainous Road Corridors Based on Numerical Modeling

2019

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Engineering methods such as soil nails, geosynthetic reinforcement, retaining structures, gabions, and shotcrete are implemented to stabilize road cut slopes along mountainous areas. However, these structures are not environmentally friendly and, particularly in Ethiopia, it is impossible to address all road problems due to financial limitations. Nowadays, soil reinforcement with plant roots is recognized as an environmentally sustainable alternative to improve shallow slope failure along mountainous transportation corridors. The aims of this study was, therefore, to conduct slope stability analysis along a road corridor by incorporating the effect of plant roots. Five plant species were selected for the analysis based on their mechanical characteristics. Namely, Eucalyptus globules (tree), Psidium guajava (shrub), Salix subserrata (shrub), Chrysopogon zizanioides, and Pennisetum macrourum (grasses). The roots' tensile strength and soil parameters were determined through tensile strength testing and triaxial compression tests, respectively. The factor of safety of the slope was calculated by the PLAXIS-2D software. The study showed that when the slope was reinforced with plant roots, the factor of safety (FOS) improved from 22-34%. The decreasing effect of vegetation on slope stability was observed when soil moisture increased. The sensitivity analysis also indicated that: (1) as the spacing between plants decreased, the effect of vegetation on the slope increased. (2) Slope angle modification with a combination of plant roots had a significant impact on slope stabilization. Of the five-selected plant species, Salix subserrata was the promising plant species for slope stabilization as it exhibited better root mechanical properties among selected plant species.

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“…Genet et al (2010) reported that stand diversity does not primarily affect slope stability, however, rather the tree position on the slope and the architecture of the respective root system that crosses the potential slip surface (also suggested by results of Danjon et al 2008). The model outputs indicate that the r.slope.stability is able to Implications for model parameterisation Temgoua et al (2016) recently used a partly comparable approach, where root system morphologies were approximated by geometric solids and implemented in a finite element environment. Referring to these findings, we hypothesise that the application of paraboloids depict a further step in representing root system morphologies in 2.5D and 3D slip surface models.…”

Section: Separated Vs Mixed Standsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thomas and Pollen-Bankhead 2010;Schwarz et al 2010), 3D finite element models (e.g. Dupuy et al 2007;Temgoua et al 2016) or within a infinite slope environment (e.g. Bischetti et al 2005;Danjon et al 2008;Bischetti et al 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integration of root systems into a GIS-based slip surface model: computational experiments in a generic hillslope environment

Schmaltz

Mergili

2018

Landslides

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Integration of root systems into a GIS-based slip surface model: computational experiments in a generic hillslope environment Abstract Root systems of trees reinforce the underlying soil in hillslope environments and therefore potentially increase slope stability. So far, the influence of root systems is disregarded in Geographic Information System (GIS) models that calculate slope stability along distinct failure plane. In this study, we analyse the impact of different root system compositions and densities on slope stability conditions computed by a GIS-based slip surface model. We apply the 2.5D slip surface model r.slope.stability to 23 root system scenarios imposed on pyramidoid-shaped elements of a generic landscape. Shallow, taproot and mixed root systems are approximated by paraboloids and different stand and patch densities are considered. The slope failure probability (P f ) is derived for each raster cell of the generic landscape, considering the reinforcement through root cohesion. Average and standard deviation of P f are analysed for each scenario. As expected, the r.slope.stability yields the highest values of P f for the scenario without roots. In contrast, homogeneous stands with taproot or mixed root systems yield the lowest values of P f . P f generally decreases with increasing stand density, whereby stand density appears to exert a more pronounced influence on P f than patch density. For patchy stands, P f increases with a decreasing size of the tested slip surfaces. The patterns yielded by the computational experiments are largely in line with the results of previous studies. This approach provides an innovative and simple strategy to approximate the additional cohesion supplied by root systems and thereby considers various compositions of forest stands in 2.5D slip surface models. Our findings will be useful for developing strategies towards appropriately parameterising root reinforcement in real-world slope stability modelling campaigns.

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Influence of forest stands and root morphologies on hillslope stability

Cited by 39 publications

References 59 publications

Root Biomechanical Traits in a Montane Mediterranean Forest Watershed: Variations with Species Diversity and Soil Depth

Root Biomechanical Traits in a Montane Mediterranean Forest Watershed: Variations with Species Diversity and Soil Depth

Stability Analysis of Plant-Root-Reinforced Shallow Slopes along Mountainous Road Corridors Based on Numerical Modeling

Integration of root systems into a GIS-based slip surface model: computational experiments in a generic hillslope environment

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