Experimental Investigation of the Outburst Discharge of Landslide Dam Overtopping Failure

Research on the factors and mechanisms that influence outburst floods are essential for estimating outflow hydrographs and the resulting inundation. In this study, large flume tests are conducted to investigate the effects of the upstream inflow and the presence of loose erodible deposits on the breaching flow and the subsequent outburst floods. Experimental results reveal that hydrographs of the breaching flow and outburst flood can be divided into three stages where each stage is separated by inflection points and peak discharges. It is found that the larger the inflow discharge, the larger the peak discharge of the outburst flood and the shorter the time needed to reach the peak and inflection discharges of the outburst flood. The breaching flow decreases along the longitudinal direction at rates that increase with the inflow discharge. The ratio between the length of the upstream dam shoulder and the dam width is inversely related to the ratio of the outburst discharge to inflow discharge. We also show that the presence of loose deposits at the dam toe can amplify the peak discharge of outburst flood by increasing the solids content of the water flow.

Laboratory study of the effects of flexible vegetation on solute diffusion in unidirectional flow

Background Flexible vegetation is an important part of the riverine ecosystem, which can reduce flow velocity, change turbulence structure, and affect the processes of solute transport. Compared with the flow with rigid vegetation, which has been reported in many previous studies, bending of flexible vegetation increases the complexity of the flow–vegetation–solute interactions. In this study, laboratory experiments are carried out to investigate the influence of flexible vegetation on solute transport, and methods for estimating the lateral and longitudinal diffusion coefficients in the rigid vegetated flow are examined for their applications to the flow with flexible vegetation. Results The experimental observations find that vegetation can significantly reduce flow velocity, and the Manning coefficient increases with increasing vegetation density and decreases with inflow discharge. Under all the cases, the vertical peak of the solute concentration moves towards the bottom bed along the flow, and the values of vertical peak concentration longitudinally decreases from the injection point. The lateral diffusion coefficients Dy increase with vegetation density, while the longitudinal diffusion coefficients DL are opposite. Both Dy and DL increase with the inflow discharge. To estimate the Dy and DL in the flow with flexible vegetation, an effective submerged vegetation height considering vegetation bending is incorporated in the methods proposed for flow with rigid vegetation (Lou et al. Environ Sci Eur 32:15, 2020). The modified approach can well predict the diffusion coefficients in the experiments with the relative errors in the range of 5%–12%. Conclusions The methods proposed in this study can be used to estimate the lateral and longitudinal diffusion coefficients in flows through both rigid and flexible vegetations using the effective submerged vegetation height.

Erosion Rate of Lateral Slope Deposit Under the Effects of Different Influencing Factors

Lateral slope deposits along a channel represent an important source of material for initiation and development of debris flows/floods that are typically observed in many headwater tributaries. This study found that the failure process of such a deposit reflects combined interaction between external hydrodynamic factors (inflow discharge and channel slope) and internal factors (compactness and fine particle content). The erosion process comprises two stages: runoff erosion toward the toe of the deposit body and soil failure owing to gravity. Spatially, the erosion rate is distributed unevenly across the deposit; the highest value occurs at the section close to the middle of the deposit, on the upstream face. Temporally, the erosion rate decreases exponentially. Overall, the average erosion rate decreases (increases) with bulk density (inflow discharge and channel slope). However, a slope of 7 is a threshold at which the tendency of the erosion rate in relation to the fine particle content differs. In comparison with the other three influencing factors, the effect of the fine particle content is much smaller. Although the bulk density of the deposit imposes the most significant effect, it is of the same order as that of both inflow discharge and channel slope. As the failure process can be summarized as repeated runoff scouring of the toe of the deposit, deposit failure, and entrainment of the failure body by runoff, we proposed a calculation method for the total time required for a complete lateral erosion process, and validation of the calculation suggested its reasonability. The findings of this study enhance the understanding of the mechanism of lateral soil deposit failure, which could help improve runoff-induced debris flood forecasting in headwater regions of mountainous catchments.

Effects of uncertainty in determining the parameters of the linear Muskingum method using the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm

The Muskingum method is one the simplest and most applicable methods of flood routing. Optimizing the coefficients of linear Muskingum is of great importance to enhance accuracy of computations on an outflow hydrograph. In this study, considering the uncertainty of flood in the rivers and by application of the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, we used the data obtained from three floods simultaneously as basic flood to optimize parameters of linear Muskingum (X, K and Δt), rather than using inflow and outflow hydrographs of a single basic flood (observational flood), and optimized the outflow discharge at the beginning of flood (O1) as a percentage of inflow discharge at the beginning of flood (I1). The results suggest that the closer inflow discharge variation of basic flood to the inflow discharge variation of observational flood, the accuracy of outflow hydrograph computations will increase. Moreover, when the proposed approach is used to optimize parameters of X, K and Δt, the accuracy of outflow hydrograph computations will increase too. In other words, if rather than using a single basic flood, the proposed approach is applied, the average values of mean relative error (MRE) of total flood for the first, second, third and fourth flood will be improved as 31, 13, 39 and 33%, respectively.

A field investigation on rill development and flow hydrodynamics under different upslope inflow and slope gradient conditions

Few studies focus on the quantitative impact of upslope inflow rate and slope gradient on rill development and erosion processes. Field plot experiments under varying inflow rates (6–36 L min−1m−1) and slope gradients (26, 42 and 57%) were conducted to address this issue. The results showed soil loss rates significantly demonstrated temporal variability in relevance to the rill developing process. Rill erosion and its contribution to soil loss increased with increasing inflow rates and slope gradients by power functions. There was a threshold inflow discharge (12–24 L min−1m−1), under which, rill erosion became the dominant erosion pattern. At the initial stage, downcutting of rill bottom and headward erosion were obvious, whereas rill broadening was significant at the actively rill developing period. Rill density increased with slope gradient increasing from 26% to 42%, and then decreased. For the 57% slope under high inflow rates (24–36 L min−1m−1), gravity caused an increase in the collapse of rills. Mean rill width increased with increasing inflow rates but decreased as slope gradients increased, while mean rill depth increased with increasing inflow rates and slope gradients. Stream power and rill flow velocity were the best hydrodynamic parameter to simulate rill erosion and rill morphology, respectively.

Experimental investigation of hydraulic characteristics and energy dissipation in a baffle-drop shaft

The baffle-drop shaft structure is usually applied in deep tunnel drainage systems to transfer shallow storm water to underground tunnels. At present, the definition of the maximum operational capacity of baffle-drop shafts is lack of scientific and reasonable analysis, and the researches on hydraulic and energy dissipation characteristics have been insufficient. In this paper, a 1:25 scale hydraulic model test was conducted to observe the flow phenomena during the discharge process, analyze the relationship between the maximum inflow discharge and the baffle parameters, and calculate the energy dissipation rate of the shaft under different flow conditions. The results demonstrated that three kinds of flow regimes were presented in the discharge process: wall-impact confined flow, critical flow, and free-drop flow. The impact wave majorly brought about the energy dissipation of water on the baffle. The impingement and breakup of the inflow at the bottom of the drop shaft, as well as the reverse flow, resulted in the final energy loss. The time-averaged pressure value of the upper baffle was 1.5–3 times that of the central and lower baffles. The baffle with a design angle could effectively reduce the time-averaged pressure of the water flow acting on the baffle. The energy dissipation rate of the drop shaft decreased with the increase in the inflow discharge, and the energy dissipation rate was found to range from about 63.14% to 96.40%. The optimal size of the baffle-drop shaft with the maximum energy dissipation rate was d/B = 0.485 and θ = 10° (d, B, and θ are the baffle spacing, width, and angle, respectively).

Research on dam inflow analysis based on radar rainfall data

<p>Estimation of dam inflow using rainfall needs for efficient and timely operation of dam. Accuracy rainfall data is important to estimate dam inflow. Currently, rainfall pattern has volatile temporal and spatial distribution. Dam inflow based on rainfall gauged data is inadequate for operating hydroelectric dam. Radar rainfall has been used as an alternative because radar data provides spatially distributed rainfall. In this study, we estimated inflow discharge for hydroelectric dam using both radar and rain gauged data to find a case to improve the accuracy. Hydrological modeling have been adopted to estimate inflow and based on rainfall data collected from 2018 to 2019.</p><p>This work was supported by KOREA HYDRO & NUCLEAR POWER CO., LTD(No. 2018-Tech-20)</p>

An Experimental Study on the Effects of Atomized Rain of a High Velocity Waterjet to Downstream Area in Low Ambient Pressure Environment

A better understanding of the atomized rain characteristics in low ambient pressure areas is beneficial in reducing the jeopardizing effect of flood discharge atomization on high-altitude hydropower stations. A random splash experiment is designed with two measurement planes to investigate the effects of low ambient pressure on downstream atomized rain under the complicated conditions of low ambient pressure (within 0.60P0~1.00P0) and high waterjet velocity (at a magnitude of 10 m/s). The results demonstrate that the atomized rain (rain intensity ≥ 2 mm/h) downstream, characterized by two-dimensional distribution, can be enhanced by decreasing the ambient pressure and by increasing the inflow discharge. When the ambient pressure decreases at the same inflow discharge, both the distance of the rain intensity lines (40 mm/h, 10 mm/h, 2 mm/h) in the horizontal plane from the constricted nozzle outlet and the average rain amount in the inclined plane within the atomized source ratio of ((0~30) × 10−3)% appear as “linear” growth. With the ambient pressure decreasing by 0.10P0, the range of those characteristic rain intensity lines is expanded by 0.68%~1.37%, and the average rain amount is enlarged by 11.06%~20.48%. When keeping the low ambient pressure unchanged, both the point average rain intensity reduction along the releasing centerline and the surface average rain amount growth with increased inflow discharge all follow an exponential function. The aeration reduction in the waterjet boundary and the resistance reduction in atomized water-droplets are contributing factors for the enhancement effect of low ambient pressure. This study can enable the establishment of a foundation to further predict flood discharge atomization in a high-altitude environment.