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Numerical analysis of effect of baffle configuration on impact force exerted from rock avalanches

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Abstract

In mountainous areas, channelized rock avalanches swarm downslope leading to large impact forces on building structures in residential areas. Arrays of rock avalanche baffles are usually installed in front of rigid barriers to attenuate the flow energy of rock avalanches. However, previous studies have not sufficiently addressed the mechanisms of interaction between the rock avalanches and baffles. In addition, empirical design approaches such as debris flow (Tang et al., Quat Int 250:63–73, 2012), rockfall (Spang and Rautenstrauch, 1237–1243, 1988), snow avalanches (Favier et al., 14:3–15, 2012), and rock avalanches (Manzella and Labiouse, Landslides 10:23–36, 2013), which are applied in natural geo-disasters mitigation cannot met construction requirements. This study presents details of numerical modeling using the discrete element method (DEM) to investigate the effect of the configuration of baffles (number and spacing of baffle columns and rows) on the impact force that rock avalanches exert on baffles. The numerical modeling is firstly conducted to provide insights into the flow interaction between rock avalanches and an array of baffles. Then, a modeling analysis is made to investigate the change pattern of the impact force with respect to baffle configurations. The results demonstrate that three crucial influencing factors (baffle row numbers, baffle column spacing, and baffle row spacing) have close relationship with energy dissipation of baffles. Interestingly, it is found that capacity of energy dissipation of baffles increases with increasing baffle row numbers and baffle row spacing, while it decreases with increasing baffle column spacing. The results obtained from this study are useful for facilitating design of baffles against rock avalanches.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions. The authors also thank Mr. Chen Zheng for conducting part of the laboratory tests.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.41790433), NSFC-ICIMOD (Grant No. 41661144041), Science and Technology Plan Project of Sichuan Province (2016SZ0067), and Key Research and Development Projects of Sichuan Province (2017SZ0041).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, School of Transportation, Southeast University, #.2, Sipalou Road, Nanjing, 210096, China

    YuZhang Bi & YanJun Du

  2. Key laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Earth Surface Process, Chinese Academy of Science, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan, China

    SiMing He, XinPo Li, Heng Liang & Yong Wu

  3. Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    SiMing He

  4. Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment (IMHE), Chinese Academy of Sciences, #.9, Block 4, Renminnanlu Road, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan, China

    SiMing He, XinPo Li, Heng Liang & Yong Wu

  5. School of Civil Engineering, Sichuan University of Science & Engineering, Zigong, 643000, Sichuan, China

    XinPo Sun

  6. State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610059, Sichuan, China

    DongPo Wang

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  1. YuZhang Bi
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Correspondence to SiMing He.

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Bi, Y., Du, Y., He, S. et al. Numerical analysis of effect of baffle configuration on impact force exerted from rock avalanches. Landslides 15, 1029–1043 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-018-0979-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-018-0979-z

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