Coupled Model of Two-phase Debris Flow, Sediment Transport and Morphological Evolution

The volume fraction of the solid and liquid phase of debris flows, which evolves simultaneously across terrains, largely determines the dynamic property of debris flows. The entrainment process significantly influences the amplitude of the volume fraction. In this paper, we present a depth-averaged two-phase debris-flow model describing the simultaneous evolution of the phase velocity and depth, the solid and fluid volume fractions and the bed morphological evolution. The model employs the Mohr-Coulomb plasticity for the solid stress, and the fluid stress is modeled as a Newtonian viscous stress. The interfacial momentum transfer includes viscous drag and buoyancy. A new extended entrainment rate formula that satisfies the boundary momentum jump condition (Iverson and Ouyang, 2015) is presented. In this formula, the basal traction stress is a function of the solid volume fraction and can take advantage of both the Coulomb and velocity-dependent friction models. A finite volume method using Roe's Riemann approximation is suggested to solve the equations. Three computational cases are conducted and compared with experiments or previous results. The results show that the current computational model and framework are robust and suitable for capturing the characteristics of debris flows.