Displacement field reconstruction in landslide physical modeling by using a terrain laser scanner – Part 2: Application and large strain/displacement and water effect analysis

Deformation analysis is fundamental in geotechnical modeling. Nevertheless, there is still a lack of an effective method to obtain the deformation field under various experimental conditions. In this study, we introduce a process–based physical modeling of a pile–reinforced reservoir landslide and present an improved deformation analysis involving large strains and water effects. We collect multi–period point clouds using a terrain laser scanner and reconstruct its deformation field through a point cloud processing workflow. The results show that this method can accurately describe the landslide surface deformation at any time and area by both scalar and vector fields. The deformation fields in different profiles of the physical model and different stages of the evolutionary process provide adequate and detailed landslide information. We analyze the large strain upstream of the pile caused by the pile installation and the consequent violent deformation during the evolutionary process. Furthermore, our method effectively overcomes the challenges of identifying targets commonly encountered in geotechnical modeling where water effects are considered and targets are polluted, which facilitates the deformation analysis at the wading area in a reservoir landslide. Eventually, combining subsurface deformation as well as numerical modeling, we comprehensively analyze the kinematics and failure mechanisms of this complicated object involving landslides and pile foundations as well as water effects. This method is of great significance for any geotechnical modeling concerning large-strain analysis and water effects.