NUMERICAL STUDY OF DEBRIS FLOWS AROUND BRIDGE PIERS

Landslide is a natural hazard that has crucial direct impact on the socio-economic system. Among various types of landslides, debris flows are a major threat to transportation structures such as bridges in mountainous areas. Vulnerability analysis of bridges that are exposed to debris flows is an important part of risk assessment and management. In the presented study, the characteristics of debris flows around bridge piers are investigated numerically for different boundary conditions using ANSYS FLUENT software. The non-Newtonian power-law model was used to model the debris flow. Drag coefficient was also determined to quantify the vulnerability of bridge piers to debris flows with different velocities and Reynolds numbers.