Influence of the degree of saturation and the wetting front on the stability of cliffs: a case study on a cliff located on the beach of Tabatinga-RN-Brazil

Coastal zones are of great interest in civil engineering due to their economic relevance and active geological dynamics. In Brazil, the development of these regions is related to the use of their geomorphological features in the landscape, among which the cliffs stand out. Although there are studies that consider the influence of the wetting front in stability analysis with cliffs, in general, the studies only consider extreme saturation situations (dry and saturated). In this sense, the present study aims to understand the influence of the wetting front and the degree of saturation reached by the materials in the stability of cliffs composed of Barreiras Formation soil. The stability analyses were carried out using the limit equilibrium method and stress analysis, varying the degrees of saturation of the materials and wetting fronts of a model of a cliff located at Praia de Tabatinga, State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Failures were identified, in different wetting fronts, by the limit equilibrium method from degrees of saturation around 20%, and by the stress analysis method around 40%. Thus, it was concluded that the variation in the degree of saturation has a preponderant effect on the destabilization of a cliff, since partial saturations are already enough to trigger significant mass movements. It was also noticeable that the wetting front is a relevant effect on instability, although conditioned to the degree of saturation reached, which may enhance the order of magnitude of the identified failures.