Self-Potential signatures on monitoring a rainfall-induced landslide based on a laboratory experiment

<p>Based on the electrokinetic effect, the pore-water flows can produce electrical streaming currents. The electrokinetic mechanism makes electrical voltage differences on the ground or underground be observed, which can be called as Self-Potential (SP). SP as a passive geophysical method could be used to understand water flow, which has a potential application in monitoring rainfall-induced landslides. In this study, we implemented a laboratory experiment by imposing rainfall to measure SP data variations due to soil imbibition and water flows. SP, pore-water pressure inside the slope and surface displacement are synchronously measured by a data acquisition system from National Instruments (NI Compact DAQ). The observed results indicate that (1) SP sensitively responds to the pore-water pressure variations, and (2) the significant increase of surface displacement lagging behind changes in SP. The experimental results show the potential that SP can be used to quantitatively interpret the changes in the water flowing pattern inside the slope.</p>