Experimental study of erodible bed scoured by the debris flow in the narrow-steep gully

In recent years, debris flows have frequently erupted in the narrow-steep gully of the earthquake-hit Wenchuan region, displaying high flow velocities and powerful scouring abilities. However, few scouring studies in the narrow-steep gully have been conducted. A model experiment simulated the debris flow scouring process in a narrow-steep flume, in which several important physical parameters, including the debris flow density (ρ), flume slope (θ), and grain size of the sediment (D), were varied to investigate their influences on the erodible strength. The experimental flows were composed of 50 L of water and grains, which scoured 2.3 m of erodible bed down a steeply inclined flume. A high-speed camera photographed the scouring processes, while a 3D laser device captured the final bed shapes. The experiments show that the debris flow first collides with the sediment at the head of the gully to form a pit, which is enlarged by continuous impact; the velocity of the debris flow out of the pit is significantly reduced due to the change in flow direction, resulting in a much lesser scouring effect after the pit; and finally, the gully bed presents the shape of a pit at the entrance and a groove in the middle and rear. The critical scour slope, where the gully bed shows scouring, increases with increasing debris flow density but decreases with increasing grain size of sediment. Following scouring, the maximum scouring depth is further positively correlated with the flume slope. In narrow-steep gullies, the gully bed is extremely susceptible to scouring by debris flow with a low density, and even headward erosion appears, at which the maximum scouring depth only increased from 148.04 to 149.97 mm, but the erosion amount had a significant increase of 36.9%. The research results have an important significance for revealing the disaster-causing phenomena and mechanisms of debris flows in the narrow-steep gully.