Debris flows occur in multiple surges. Boulders entrained within the flow have been reported to incapacitate structures within its flow path. Single-layer cushions, such as gabions, are often installed to shield debris-resisting barriers from boulder impact. However, most relevant works only focus on single impact and the performance of gabions subjected to successive loading is still not well understood. A new large-scale pendulum facility was established to induce impact energy of up to 70 kJ on an instrumented rigid barrier shielded by 1 m thick gabions. The response of the gabions under six successive impacts was investigated. Results show that the peak boulder impact force given by the Hertz equation is at least four times the measured values. The recommended load-reduction factor (Kc) used in practice can be reduced by a factor of two. After six successive impacts at an energy level of 70 kJ, the transmitted force increases by up to 40%. Based on the Swiss guidelines, a 13% increase of gabion thickness is required when successive impacts are concerned. The results presented in this paper will be useful for practitioners designing rigid barriers.
Synthetic polymer fluids are becoming a popular replacement for bentonite slurries to support excavations for deep foundation elements. However, the rheological properties of the polymer fluids used in excavation support have not been studied in detail, and there is currently confusion about the choice of mathematical models for this type of fluid. To advance the current state of knowledge, a laboratory study has been performed to investigate the steady-shear viscosity and transient viscoelasticity of a polymer support fluid. It is found that over the shear-rate range measurable with the Fann viscometer, an industry standard instrument, the power-law model can be used to represent the results, whereas the Bingham plastic model will significantly overestimate the viscosity at low shear. When evaluated over a much wider shear-rate range with a cone-and-plate rheometer, the polymer fluids show signs of approaching limiting viscosities at the very low and high shear rates, and for this behavior the Carreau model is more appropriate. From a series of oscillatory tests, the viscoelastic properties of the polymer fluid have been shown to be very different from those reported for their bentonite counterparts. The key engineering implications of the rheological results have been discussed.
Landslide risks arising from boulder falls and debris flows are commonly mitigated using rigid and flexible barriers. Debris-barrier interaction is a complicated process so current design methods rely on the use of the pseudo-static force approach. In addition to physical testing, numerical simulations can be used to provide insight into the impact mechanism. This paper presents the applications of numerical models to simulate rigid and flexible barriers subjected to rockfall and debris flow impacts respectively. For rigid barriers, rock-filled gabions, recycled glass cullet, cellular glass aggregates and EVA foam were assessed for their performance as cushioning materials. From the results, empirical equations were established for predicting the boulder impact forces and penetration into the cushion layer. Amongst the materials considered in this study, rock-filled gabions appear to be the most promising for use in practice. For flexible barriers, finite-element models, calibrated using documented case histories, were developed to simulate the debris-barrier interaction. The models were used to investigate the barriers' behaviour under debris impacts from both force and energy perspectives. From the results, the hydrodynamic pressure coefficient was found to be lower than the current recommended value whilst only a small amount of debris energy was transferred to the barrier.
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