Investigation of Dry Debris Flow Impact Against a Rigid Barrier via a Discrete Element Approach

This study investigates the interaction between dry debris flows and a rigid barrier through numerical flume tests based on a discrete element method. The initial deposition material is modelled as an assembly of spherical particles, and the rigid barrier is modelled as a layer of fixed particles. The numerical model is used to investigate the effect of the flume inclination on the debris-barrier interactions. Based on the numerical results, three interaction mechanisms are identified, namely frontal impact, run up and pile up. The impact force is also detected. In addition, the energy transformation is investigated by analyzing the evolution of the kinetic energy, gravitational potential energy and the energy dissipated by the flume, barrier and inter-particle interactions.