ABSTRACT
This paper summarizes the work by Chau (1995, 1999) on modeling landslide as a consequence of bifurcation of a steadily creeping slope when it is subjected to perturbations. In particular, the translational slip of infinite slope is modeled by a nonlinear dynamics system after incorporating nonlinear state variable friction laws into the slip surface (one and two state variable laws by Chau, 1995 and Chau, 1999 respectively). According to the state variable friction laws, the shear strength (τ) along the slip surface depends on the creeping velocity (V) and state variables, which evolve with the ongoing slip. Linear stability analysis is applied to study the stability in the neighborhood of the equilibrium solution (i.e. stable creeping slope) of the system. If the one state variable friction law is used in landslide modeling, velocity strengthening in the laboratory always implies the stability of a creeping slope containing the same slip surface under gravitational pull. For two state variable friction law, however, velocity strengthening observed in the laboratory does not necessarily imply stability of slope.
