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Unveiling the retrogressive traction-collapse mechanism of rainfall-induced landslides in high waste rock dumps via high-fidelity 3D discrete element modeling
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DOI：10.1007/s10064-026-05237-y.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
Landslides in large-scale waste rock dumps (WRDs) represent a critical geotechnical hazard, often exhibiting complex progressive failure characteristics that challenge traditional continuum-based analysis. This study investigates the catastrophic failure of a high, steep waste rock slope triggered by rainfall, utilizing a high-fidelity three-dimensional Discrete Element Method (3D DEM). To accurately capture the binary mechanical response of the slope strata, a hybrid constitutive approach is adopted: the Elastic Perfectly Plastic Bond (EPPB) model for the coarse-grained waste rock (muck), and the Johnson-Kendall-Roberts (JKR) model for the basal silty clay, effectively simulating the rainfall-triggered shear strength degradation due to saturation. A rigorous model initialization technique, integrating the rainfall deposition method with servo-controlled stress consolidation, is developed to reconstruct the realistic in-situ stress field. The simulation successfully reproduces a distinct two-stage failure mechanism validated against field observations: (I) an initial basal shear failure driven by hydrogeological softening at the slope toe, triggering (II) a retrogressive traction-collapse of the upper waste rock mass. Kinematic analysis of the velocity field quantitatively confirms a sequential delay in peak velocities from the toe to the crest, providing supporting evidence of the retrogressive traction mechanism. These findings demonstrate the efficacy of the coupled EPPB-JKR DEM framework in predicting the instability evolution of binary-structure slopes under rainfall conditions.
Keywords:
Waste rock dump
Landslide mechanism
3D Discrete Element Method
JKR model
Retrogressive failure
Saturated soil behavior
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