Abstract
In recent years, debris flows have represented a severe natural hazard in South-Gargano watersheds (Puglia Region, Southern Italy). Hill slopes erosion, caused by the inadequate protection of the degraded forests, produces large amounts of soil and debris that are conveyed downstream during heavy rainstorms. The involved material is characterized by limestone fragments and blocks in a sandy-silt matrix. In this paper, the rheological properties of such debris-flow materials have been investigated. Eight specimens of particulated sediments of particle diameter of d ≤ 4 mm have been analysed using a rheometric tool for large particle suspensions, the ball measuring system (BMS). The influence of sediment concentration on the bulk rheological behaviour has been evaluated at concentrations by volume obtained in fully water-saturated conditions (volumetric sediment concentration C V ~ 0.8) and with fixed water content (C V = 0.42). The rheological data were fitted to the Bingham, Herschel–Bulkley, and O’Brien and Julien models to define viscosity and yield stress dependency on sediment concentration, to provide viscosity information for hazard mitigation as well as for comparison to other debris-flow events.
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Bisantino, T., Fischer, P. & Gentile, F. Rheological characteristics of debris-flow material in South-Gargano watersheds. Nat Hazards 54, 209–223 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-009-9462-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-009-9462-4