Collapsing erosion is a common and specific form of soil erosion in granite areas of southern China

while eco-protection slope through roots is a cost-effective and environmentally compatible method for prevention of collapsing erosion.In the aim of investigating the influence of root reinforcement systems on the stability of collapsing gullies wall

the slope reinforcement mechanism of the plant root was studied in this paper.The plant root was simplified into taproot type.A 2 Dfinite element model of collapsing gullies wall considering the roots was established by means of ABAQUS software platform.The effect of the variation of some factors such as length

spacing

position

entry direction

lateral branch angle and root-slope toe distance on the safety factor of collapsing slope was analyzed respectively.Considering the influence of a single factor

the following conclusions are drawn:with the increase of taproot length

the stability of collapsing slope can be improved.A double fold linear negative correlation appears between the safety factor of collapsing gullies wall and the planting spacing.The safety factor first increases with the lateral branch angle

reaching apeak value at a lateral branch angle of 45 degree

then turns gradually attenuated.With the increase of distance from the root to the slope toe

the safety factor first increases and then declines until levels off.The safety factor is the largest when the roots in the lower slope are perpendicular to the slope surface.