Landslides pose a severe threat to the man-made and natural environment. As a result, many different artificial structures have been employed to attempt to mitigate the damage from these hazards. However, natural systems, such as forests of trees, can also play a defensive role by dissipating energy and reducing flow speed. This study uses a small-scale model forest to investigate the effectiveness of such sustainable measures. It examines how granular flows interact with arrays of tree structures at different densities, comparing the results to flow down a bare plane. Using image analysis of high-speed camera recordings, we track the lateral spread-out area and the speed of the flows. The results show that the trees have a strong decelerating effect in the downstream direction, and also slow the rate of lateral spread out. The knowledge gained from these experiments can be applied to the field scale, and could provide useful practical guidelines for alternative, sustainable hazard mitigation in mountainous areas.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Granular flows through a model-scale forest: Influence of tree density and implications for landslide mitigation


    Additional title:

    Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    2019-10-11


    Size :

    6 pages





    Type of media :

    Article/Chapter (Book)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




    Landslide mitigation in an urban setting: a case history

    Mathioudakis, M. / Machan, G. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2004


    A Performance Based Design Framework for Landslide Mitigation Measures

    Free, M.W. / Pappin, J.W. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2002



    Mitigation strategies of Cavon Grande landslide in Civita di Bagnoregio (Italy)

    Delmonaco, G. / Margottini, C. / Puglisi, C. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2004


    Modeling dam break granular flows

    Di Cristo, Cristiana / Leopardi, Angelo / Greco, Massimo | HENRY – Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute (BAW) | 2010

    Free access