A recently constructed flume, 95 m long and 2 m wide, permits systematic experimentation with unsteady, nonuniform flows of poorly sorted geological debris. Preliminary experiments with water-saturated mixtures of sand and gravel show that they flow in a manner consistent with Coulomb frictional behavior. The Coulomb flow model of Savage and Hutter (1989, 1991), modified to include quasi-static pore-pressure effects, predicts flow-front velocities and flow depths reasonably well. Moreover, simple scaling analyses show that grain friction, rather than liquid viscosity or grain collisions, probably dominates shear resistance and momentum transport in the experimental flows. The same scaling indicates that grain friction is also important in many natural debris flows.
Additional publication details
Publication type:
Conference Paper
Publication Subtype:
Conference Paper
Title:
Friction in debris flows: inferences from large-scale flume experiments
ISBN:
0872629201
Issue:
pt 2
Year Published:
1993
Language:
English
Publisher:
Publ by ASCE
Publisher location:
New York, NY, United States
Larger Work Title:
Proceedings - National Conference on Hydraulic Engineering
First page:
1604
Last page:
1609
Conference Title:
Proceedings of the National Conference on Hydraulic Engineering
and Richard G. LaHusen