Experimental study on blocking and self-cleaning behaviors of beam dam in debris flow hazard mitigation

Blocking is one of the important features when a beam dam intercepts debris flow, while self-cleaning is another when managing suspended debris flow. Both features determine the debris flow control benefits of beam dam but the latter often is not considered in practical engineering design. In this paper, a series of specially designed flume experiments were done to simulate blocking and self-cleaning processes. The blocking ratio and deposition features were measured to contrast the blocking and self-cleaning performance before and after artificial self-cleaning. The experimental results reveal that the beam dam net opening, particle diameter of sediment, sediment concentration, and gradient of the channel are the main factors affecting blocking performance. A new criterion of blocking performance of beam dams that considers the interaction of multiple factors and can provide guidance to practical project design is proposed. For all three types of blocking, sediment deposited upstream of a beam dam can be effectively transported downstream by erosion from post-debris-flow floods, Self-cleaning performance is most efficient for temporary blocking, followed by partial-blocking, and total-blocking. The efficiency of self-cleaning largely depends on the change of the sediment deposit due to erosion. Finally, a discussion is given for the optimal design of an open-type check dam and the feasibility of synergistic effects of self-cleaning in combination with artificial cleaning. Some supporting artificial silt-cleaning should be implemented in practice. A beam dam will, thus, have more storage capacity with which to control the next debris flow event.