Abrasion Behavior and Anti-Wear Measures of Debris Flow Drainage Channel with Large Gradient

• Main Authors: Dongxu Yang, Yong You, Wanyu Zhao, Hai Huang, Hao Sun, Yang Liu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-06-01
• Series: Water
• Subjects: debris flow; drainage channel; large gradient; energy dissipation; scour and abrasion
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/12/7/1868

Debris flow gullies have high potential energy and geomorphic characteristics including a steep longitudinal slope and abundant loose material sources. They often experience debris flow with a strong impact force and a large instantaneous flow. Drainage engineering measures are most commonly used for mitigation in these gullies. However, the abrasion of drainage channels with large gradients (DCLG) is complex and strong because of the high-speed flushing of debris. In this study, the abrasion behavior of debris flow in DCLG is analyzed based on the kinematic characteristics and the theory of composite abrasive wear. Energy dissipation and anti-wear measures are suggested, and their effects are summarized with reference to a case study and in situ observation. The results show that there are four main types of wear morphology in drainage channels. The abrasion system of drainage channels shows the characteristics of system dependency, time dependency and multidisciplinary coupling. Energy dissipation and anti-wear measures include prefabricated reinforced concrete boxes as substrate, transverse roughening belts, adding a wear-resistant admixture, etc. The flow velocity of the debris flow is reduced by 5.7–37.1% after passing through the energy dissipation section. The distribution of abrasion and the mud depth show that the variation trend of the flow velocity in the channel is ”acceleration → deceleration → reacceleration“. According to tracking observations during two flood seasons, the energy dissipation and anti-wear measures are the most effective.