TY - JOUR

T1 - Impact and erosion dynamics of inclusion-enriched dry granular flows on rigid barriers with basal clearance

T2 - Numerical insights from hybrid MP-DEM simulations

AU - Jiang, Yupeng

AU - Zhang, Chenyang

AU - Edward Choi, Clarence

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024

PY - 2024/9/16

Y1 - 2024/9/16

N2 - Rigid barriers with basal openings are often installed along predicted flow paths to protect downstream facilities from dry granular flows containing large boulders. However, current design practices do not consider the effects of these inclusions during impact, discharge, overflow, and bed erosion. We conducted hybrid MP-DEM simulations to study the dynamics of dry sand flow with inclusions impacting a rigid barrier with a basal opening. Our findings show that accounting for large inclusions is crucial for barrier design, as they alter dry granular flow regimes, delay dead zone formation, and affect overflow dynamics. Current analytical solutions may overestimate velocity attenuation by up to 60% if inclusions are not considered. A 10% increase in inclusion volume fraction leads to 6%-28% increases in internal energy dissipation during overflow, resulting in an overflow distance 20% lower than existing predictions. Additionally, channel bed erosion due to landing flow with inclusions creates a flow depth up to 3.5 times thicker than at the first barrier location. This suggests that using the initial flow depth for impact force assessment on a second barrier may not be conservative for erodible channel beds and inclusion-enriched flows.

AB - Rigid barriers with basal openings are often installed along predicted flow paths to protect downstream facilities from dry granular flows containing large boulders. However, current design practices do not consider the effects of these inclusions during impact, discharge, overflow, and bed erosion. We conducted hybrid MP-DEM simulations to study the dynamics of dry sand flow with inclusions impacting a rigid barrier with a basal opening. Our findings show that accounting for large inclusions is crucial for barrier design, as they alter dry granular flow regimes, delay dead zone formation, and affect overflow dynamics. Current analytical solutions may overestimate velocity attenuation by up to 60% if inclusions are not considered. A 10% increase in inclusion volume fraction leads to 6%-28% increases in internal energy dissipation during overflow, resulting in an overflow distance 20% lower than existing predictions. Additionally, channel bed erosion due to landing flow with inclusions creates a flow depth up to 3.5 times thicker than at the first barrier location. This suggests that using the initial flow depth for impact force assessment on a second barrier may not be conservative for erodible channel beds and inclusion-enriched flows.

KW - Basal opening

KW - Dry granular flow

KW - Erosion

KW - Inclusions

KW - Rigid barrier

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85203840517&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.compgeo.2024.106767

DO - 10.1016/j.compgeo.2024.106767

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85203840517

VL - 176

JO - Computers and geotechnics

JF - Computers and geotechnics

SN - 0266-352X

M1 - 106767

ER -