ABSTRACT
According to the scaling rule, a model of reduced size (n times smaller than full scale) may be used to simulate the full-scale slope by increasing
1 INTRODUCTION
Hundreds of lives and pieces of property are lost every year due to landslides (e.g. Schuster & Highland 2001). Landslides may cut off highway infrastructure, utilities and communication networks for an extended period of time. Residences may be destroyed and inhabitants located at the landslides areas may be killed. A typical example is the burial of the entire Hsao-Lin Village that resulted in more than 400 deaths during the 2009 Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan (Ling 2009).
