Impact Dynamics of Boulder-Enriched Debris Flow on a Rigid Barrier
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 3
Abstract
Boulders entrained in debris flow induce high impact forces on a rigid barrier. In current design practice, the concentrated load from boulders is estimated using the Hertz equation with a load reduction factor (). Separately, the distributed load from the debris is estimated using the hydrodynamic equation. The existing design practice is simply adding the estimated loads using the two equations. The interaction between debris flow and boulders during the impact process is neglected. In this study, physical tests were conducted using a newly developed flume to shed light on the impact dynamics of debris flows with and without boulders on an instrumented rigid barrier. Contrary to existing design practice in which the boulder and debris impact loads are added together, the debris provided a cushioning effect to attenuate the impact force of the boulders. This cushioning effect was governed by a reflection wave with a length scale (where = boulder diameter), which serves to cushion thickness on impact. from 0.4 to 2.0 can reduce the impact load by up to 80% compared with existing design practice ().
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The work described in this paper was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51709052) and financial sponsorships from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project Nos. AoE/E-603/18, T22-603/15-N, 16212618, and 16209717). This paper is published with the permission of the Director of Civil Engineering and Development and the Head of the Geotechnical Engineering Office of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China.
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Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 147 • Issue 3 • March 2021
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Feb 3, 2020
Accepted: Nov 12, 2020
Published online: Jan 13, 2021
Published in print: Mar 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Jun 13, 2021
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