Experimental Investigation on the Breaching Process of Landslide Dams with Differing Materials under Different Inflow Conditions

Landslide dams are dangerous because the outburst floods produced by dam failures seriously threaten life and property downstream. In this study, a series of physical flume tests were conducted to investigate the breaching process of landslide dams with fine-grained, well graded, and coarse-grained material under different inflow conditions. The effects of dam material and inflow discharge on the breach development, outflow discharge and erosion characteristics were studied. The erosion resistance of materials and lateral collapses were also discussed. Experimental results reveal that the whole breaching process is determined by the water-sediment interaction. For the fine-grained dams, a general constant downstream slope angle is maintained during the breaching process. For the well-graded dams, a step-pool structure is generated due to the scarp erosion. For the coarse-grained dams, they can remain stable under normal circumstances but fail by overtopping in a short duration under the extreme inflow condition. The final breach of the dam with higher fine content or larger inflow discharge is deeper and narrower. In addition, many fluctuations are observed in the changing curve of the erosion rates along the flow direction for the well-graded and coarse-grained dams. The erosion resistance of materials increases along the flow direction, which needs to be further considered in physically based breach models. Furthermore, the lateral collapse is affected by the dam material instead of inflow discharge. The lower fine content causes more lateral collapses with smaller volumes.