Viscous effects on granular debris flows
Viscous effects on granular debris flows
Debris flows are saturated mass movements of granular material, consisting of various grain sizes, that travel at high speeds down slope. Fine grains, such as clay particles, are assumed to be constantly suspended by the interstitial fluid due to small settling velocities and continuous flow shearing. This process creates a viscous liquid with a non-Newtonian shear-thinning rheology. However, the effects of these attributes on the severity of overall flow behaviour and subsequent response to mitigation structures has divided the current literature. This leaves uncertainty surrounding suitable modelling of the critical design scenario. To target this, the study presented uses a viscometer to verify the shear-thinning nature of a kaolin clay suspension and a small scale flume to physically simulate non-viscous and viscous granular debris flows. Both unobstructed and slit barrier mitigated tests show the viscous flows to increase system energy retainment and therefore, increase flow mobility.
Hannah Nichols; Elisabeth Bowman
5th European Conference on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics (ECPMG2024)
Scaling principles and fundamentals
https://doi.org/10.53243/ECPMG2024-19
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