A Case Study for Simulation of a Debris Flow with DEBRIS-2D at Inje, Korea

In order to assess applicability of debris flow simulation on natural terrain in Korea, this study introduced the DEBRIS-2D program which had been developed by Liu and Huang (2006). For simulation of large debris flows composed of fine and coarse materials, DEBRIS-2D was developed using the constitutive relation proposed by Julien and Lan (1991). Based on the theory of DEBRIS-2D, this study selected a valley where a large debris flow was occurred on July 16th, 2006 at Deoksanri, Inje county, Korea. The simulation results show that all mass were already flowed into the stream at 10 minutes after starting. In 10minutes, the debris flow reached the first geological turn and an open area, resulting in slow velocity and changing its flow direction. After that, debris flow started accelerating again and it reached the village after 40 minutes. The maximum velocity is rather low between 1 m/sec and 2 m/sec. This is the reason why debris flow took 50 minutes to reach the village. The depth change of debris flow shows enormous effect of the valley shape. The simulated result is very similar to what happened in the field. It means that DEBRIS-2D program can be applied to the geologic and topographic conditions in Korea without large modification of analysis algorithm. However, it is necessary to determine optimal reference values of Korean geologic and topographic properties for more reliable simulation of debris flows.