Sensitivity analysis of influencing parameters on slit-type barrier performance against debris flow using 3D-based numerical approach

Abstract

Extreme rainfall-induced debris flow can be catastrophic to an urban area, and installation of slit-type barriers can prevent such damage while minimizing negative impact on environments. However, the performance of slit-type barriers against debris flows remains poorly identified partly due to the innate complexity in interactions between debris flow and solid structure. This paper investigated the flow behaviors of debris affected by slit-type barriers using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method, in which the numerical model based on the volume of fluid method was verified using the physical modeling results. The sensitivity analysis was performed by building meta models to determine the primary parameters influencing the barrier performance against debris flows among various variables, in which the effect of input properties and design parameters, particularly the soil concentration in fluidized debris, initial velocity and volume of debris, the barrier height, and the opening ratio, was evaluated from the perspectives of the flow energy reduction and debris trapping. The initial velocity and volume of debris were found to play a significant role in determining the debris flow characteristics. A decrease in the opening ratio in the channel primarily facilitated the energy reduction and trapping due to the reduced opening size. However, the barrier height exhibited a limited effect when the height was sufficiently high to block the debris flow volume. In addition, it was observed that the double barrier system effectively increased the energy reduction while keeping the benefit of open-type barrier. The developed simulation method and obtained results provide an effective tool and an insight that can contribute to an optimum design of the debris-flow barrier.