Assessment of debris flow multiple-surge load model based on the physical process of debris-barrier interaction

Debris-flow impact load is one of the key parameters for design of engineering countermeasures. The multiple-surge load model is a remarkable progress in estimating the debris-flow impact load, which clearly delineates the contribution of each surge to the total impact load and the corresponding acting points. In order to better understand the impact process of channelized debris flow against flexible barrier, a series of medium-scale flume experiments with varying debris-flow volumetric solid concentration (0.40/0.50/0.55) were conducted. Especially, surge impact behavior is focused so that the predictability of the multiple-surge load model could be assessed. The flume and model flexible barrier were instrumented so that both the barrier dynamic response and the debris-flow properties (flow regime) could be correlated to facilitate the assessment. The results show that multiple-surge load model well predicts the total impact load. However, due to the simplification in the impact process, the interaction between the mobile phase (surge) and the deposited phase is ignored, resulting in discrepancy in the load distribution between the model prediction and experimental result. The remixing of deposited debris by the subsequent surges leads to downward momentum transfer to the lower section of barrier, which should be regarded as an adverse scenario of the design of flexible-barrier anchor capacity.