EXPERIMENTS ON GRANULAR FLOWS TO PREDICT AVALANCHE RUNUP

Design of deflectors or barriers to slow or stop snow avalanche debris in the runout zone requires estimates of runup height. In this paper, experimental data on runup of dense, dry granular flows in a flume ar e presented. The data are then compared with two one-dimensional theor etical equations for runup estimation: (1) a formulation based on foll owing the leading edge of the flow up the barrier and (2) the traditio nal method adapted from equations presented by A. Voellmy for describi ng the centre of mass of the avalanche. The results show that the lead ing-edge model more closely matches the experimental results and, in f ield applications, the leading-edge model is expected to provide highe r and, therefore, more conservative runup estimates.