Abstract
Accurate prediction of the hydrographs of outburst floods induced by landslide dam overtopping failure is necessary for hazard prevention and mitigation. In this study, flume model tests on the breaching of landslide dams were conducted. Unconsolidated soil materials with wide grain size distributions were used to construct the dam. The effects of different upstream inflow discharges and downstream bed soil erosion on the outburst peak discharge were investigated. Experimental results reveal that the whole hydrodynamic process of landslide dam breaching can be divided into three stages as defined by clear inflection points and peak discharges. The larger the inflow discharge, the shorter the time it takes to reach the peak discharge, and the larger the outburst flood peak discharge. The scale of the outburst floods was found to be amplified by the presence of an erodible bed located downstream of the landslide dam. This amplification decreases with the increase of upstream inflow. In addition, the results show that the existence of an erodible bed increases the density of the outburst flow, increasing its probability of transforming from a sediment flow to a debris flow.
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Abbreviations
- A:
-
the intersection point of downstream dam crest
- B:
-
the intersection point of upstream dam crest
- B c :
-
width of dam crest
- d 16, d50, d 84 :
-
grain sizes; subscript indicates percent smaller
- e :
-
void ratio
- g :
-
acceleration due to gravity
- H d :
-
height of landslide dam
- h e :
-
height of erodible bed
- H r :
-
height of water level
- H w :
-
height of water above final breach bottom
- h 0 :
-
the depth of dam notch
- PE :
-
potential energy of reservoir
- Q in :
-
the upstream inflow discharge
- Q out :
-
the outburst flood discharge
- Q p :
-
the outburst peak discharge
- t :
-
time
- t 0 :
-
the initial time of dam breaching
- t p :
-
time to peak discharge from the initiation of dam failure
- V 1 :
-
volume of dammed lake
- V d :
-
volume of landslide dam
- V w :
-
volume of water above the final breach
- w 0 :
-
the width of dam notch
- W d :
-
width of landslide dam
- α :
-
coefficient for dam erodibility
- β :
-
rate of change of outburst discharge
- β 1, β 2 :
-
rate of change of outburst discharge in Stage 1, Stage 2 respectively
- σ g :
-
dimensionless measure of the spread in the grain-size
- θ :
-
angle of large flume
- θ 1 :
-
angle of upstream dam toe
- θ 2 :
-
angle of downstream dam toe
- ΔQ i :
-
relative dimensionless discharge
- η :
-
the dimensionless density of outburst floods
- ρ d :
-
the density of debris flow
- ρ f :
-
the density of outburst flood
- ρ s :
-
unit weight of solid material
- ϕ :
-
friction angle of solid materials
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Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41731283), the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (Grant No. QYZDB-SSW-DQC010), and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
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Zhou, Mj., Zhou, G.G.D., Cui, K.F.E. et al. Influence of inflow discharge and bed erodibility on outburst flood of landslide dam. J. Mt. Sci. 16, 778–792 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-018-5312-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-018-5312-8