| Abstract: | A pair of flumes with variable inclinations were employed to investigate the entrainment mechanics and dynamical evolution of a debris avalanche/flow. A fixed quantity of solid and water mixture was released from a constant elevation and accelerated along a higher chute to impact substrate materials with different water contents and particle size distributions in the lower chute. Two high-speed cameras, pore and earth pressure detecting devices, were placed in the substrate materials where severe scouring occurs in order to collect multiple measurements of dynamical and mechanical parameters. The entrainment dynamics were verified by geometrical analysis and quasi-static simulation. The results show that wet and fine materials that are placed in the lower chute with steeper slopes are easily entrained during debris flow initiation, the pattern of which can be described by Coulomb friction and the Mohr-Coulomb law. Elaborate measurements of dynamical parameters enable the results of an elementary computational framework to predict the time-dependent scouring depth ht, which provides insight into rapidly determining debris flow propagation. Finally, the post-entrainment dynamics were studied. The results indicate that the propagation and the amplification of debris flows along erodible beds are dominated by the velocity and the solid volume fraction of the mixed substrate, and the coarse particle group of the substrate is a key feature affected by momentum changes. |
