Research Projects

Vegetation plays a significant role in controlling the mechanical and hydrological characteristics of the soil slopes by controlling soil moisture and suction of the slope and thus influences its stability. Hence, there is a need to understand the influence of vegetation and unsaturated characteristics in the physics-based approach to improve the success rate of existing Rainfall triggered landslide Early Warning System (EWS). The present study thus focuses on the development of landslide EWS by considering the unsaturated soil characteristics and vegetation. The physics-based model will consider the moisture variations, evapotranspiration, leaf area index, hydraulic properties, and unsaturated shear strength. The changes in hydraulic and shear strength characteristics due to vegetation will be estimated by instrumenting the natural, vegetated slopes to develop physics-based EWS.