Mechanical coupling between two innovative theories on erosion, transportation and phase-separation: Solving some long-standing problems in mass flows

München

2017

Sonderdruck

12227S

202745

Debris flows are gravity driven mixture flows of soil, sand, rock and water. The solid particles and viscous fluid governs the rheological properties, and their coupling significantly influences the dynamics. For example, debris flows can dramatically increase their volume and destructive potential, and become exceptionally mobile by entraining bed material. The mixture composition can evolve to strikingly change the spatial distribution of particles and fluid, and thus frictional and viscous resistance. So, erosion-deposition and phase-separation between solid and fluid, which strongly depend on material composition, play a critical role in debris flow dynamics. Proper understanding of these complex physical processes is very important in accurate description of impact forces, inundation areas, landscape evolution and developing reliable mitigation plans. Predicting the underlying processes of erosion, phase-separation and deposition in debris flow are long-standing challenges. However, due to lack of data and suitable models, there exists no runout prediction method that includes observed processes of erosion of dry and saturated beds, entrainment and diffusion of eroded material, grain sorting, phase-separation, levee/lobe formation and evolution of deposition patterns.