Climate Change Effects on Slope Stability

Global warming is taking place and there is no doubt that the stability of natural and artificial slopes is influenced by climate change. In this context, the present study intends to show, as more quantitatively as possible, the effects of climate change on slopes stability. The analysis was developed considering a non-static approach suitable for meteorological phenomena which are expected to change in the next years. In the analysis a statistical method was combined with a mechanical one: the forecasts of the intensity growth of heavy precipitation were used, as well as the physical laws for describing the response of groundwater table to these rainfall events and the resulting slopes stability. A case study located in Monchiero (Cn), Italy, was used as a test for the analysis and the forecasts described above.