Analysis of the Grain Size Properties and Flow Body Classes of the Mud Sand Flow: An Example of Liantanggang Collapsing Hill and Gully in Wuhua County of Guangdong

Mud sand flow is a kind of solid-liquid two-phase flow formed in collapsing hill and gully basin during rainfall. It is the main way to export erosion product. The discrimination of its fluid type is one of the collapsing hill and gully control theoretical basis. This paper analyzed the basic characteristics of mud sand flow like grain size and so on through fieldwork and sampling. The results show that the density of mud sand flow is between 1.16~1.60 t/m³ and the solids content is between 257.03~960.55 kg/m³, both of which decrease from the upper to the lower channel. The slurry of mud sand flow is composed mainly of silt and clay. As the density increases, the particle size distribution curve transforms from a single peak to the bimodal distribution similar to the weathering crust with no sorting, and the grain size of mud sand flow becomes coarser which shows a well positive linear correlation between the sediment median particle diameter and density of mud sand flow. The comparison during mud sand flow, hyperconcentrated flow and debris flow shows that collapsing hill and gully mud sand flow, which belongs to an intermediate class between hyperconcentrated flow and debris flow, has a closer link with debris flow. Therefore, mud sand flow can be considered as a sub-class of generalized debris flow that may be called as collapsing hill and gully type debris flow.