Entrainment of material in

rock avalanches
Equivalent
Fluid
Modelling: concept of equivalent fluid
Prototype Model
St.Vennant Equation, Lagrangian
Acceleration =
Gravity friction pressure term (P)
Moving
Coordinate
system
dx
dH
gk
H
T
g
dt
dv
o

o cos sin + =
(Savage and Hutter, 1988)
Dynamic equilibrium of a column
T = resisting stress

Pressure term:
o cos H
ds
dH
k P =
k lateral pressure
coefficient
Material entrainment (Sassa, 1985)
Displacement of
alluvium, Hope
Slide, B.C.
(1964)
Displacement of alluvium, Frank Slide, Alberta (1903)
Mt. Ontake rock avalanche, 1984 (Voight and Soussa,1994)
Coal waste dump flow slide
source
Nomash Slide, Vancouver Island, B.C.
(Photos D.Ayotte)
Rock slide-debris avalanche
(Map: GSC)
Nomash River, Vancouver Island
Nomash River
debris deposit
proximal
distal







ROCK SLIDE
COARSE
DEBRIS AVALANCHE
DEPOSITION
0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 2400
DISTANCE (m)
200
400
600
800
1000
E
L
E
V
A
T
I
O
N

(
m
)
0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 2400
DISTANCE (m)
-1500
-1000
-500
0
500
1000
1500
Y
I
E
L
D

R
A
T
E

(
m
3
/
m
)
ROCK
DEBRIS
EROSION
0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 2400
DISTANCE (m)
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
700000
V
O
L
U
M
E

P
A
S
S
I
N
G

(
m
3
)
ROCK
DEBRIS
TOTAL
DEPOSITS
Nomash
River

Profile


Yield rate
(m
3
/m)



Volume balance





0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
DISTANCE (m)
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
E
L
E
V
A
T
I
O
N

(
m
)
ROCK SLIDE
COARSE
DEBRIS
LAKE
DEPOSITION
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
DISTANCE (m)
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
V
O
L
U
M
E

P
A
S
S
I
N
G

(
m
3
)
ROCK
DEBRIS
TOTAL
EROSION
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
DISTANCE (m)
-750
-500
-250
0
250
500
750
Y
I
E
L
D

R
A
T
E

(
m
3
/
m
)
ROCK
DEBRIS
DEPOSITS
AVALANCHE
Eagle pass slide, B.C. Interior
Material entrainment:
1. Increases volume
2. Lubricates base of the slide
3. Increases mobility
EAGLE

NOMASH

1x10
4
1x10
5
1x10
6
1x10
7
1x10
8
1x10
9
1x10
10
1x10
11
VOLUME (m
3
)
0.1
1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
T
A
N

a
Entrainment of material from path
Acceleration =
Gravity friction pressure -momentum correction
Moving
Coordinate
system
m
v
dt
dm
dx
dH
gk
H
T
g
dt
dv
+ = o

o cos sin
(Hungr, 1995)

| o
2
tan ) (
V
u T + =
Voellmy model (Voellmy, 1955, Koerner, 1976)
Rapidly shearing,
saturated
undrained?
zone
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
DISTANCE (m)
0
100
200
300
P
A
T
H

W
I
D
T
H

(
m
)
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
E
L
E
V
A
T
I
O
N

(
m
)
WIDTH
EROSION
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
DISTANCE (m)
0
10
20
30
40
V
E
L
O
C
I
T
Y

(
m
/
s
)
FRONT
TAIL
Model with material entrainment
Nomash River slide, 1999
Source volume: 370 000 m
3
Entrained debris: 400 000 m
3


Frictional Voellmy (0.05, 400)




DAN 3D analysis
0m 1000m
measured trimline
simulated source slide
simulated entrainment zone
@ 30s intervals:
0s
3600m
3
30s
49644m
3
60s
75523m
3
90s
75838m
3
120s
75864m
3
150s
75864m
3
180s
75864m
3
0m 1000m
- assuming rheology changes following
interaction with path material
(frictional - Voellmy)
Nomash DAN 3D
frictional - Voellmy
Nomash DAN 3D
Cervinara, Italy
- shallow failure in an
artificial cut
- transformed into a
large debris avalanche
by stripping up to 2m
of
surficial material from
its path
- large increase in
volume influenced
extent of impact area Courtesy Prof. F.M. Guadagno, Italy
Cervinara, Italy
measured trimline
simulated source slide
- assumed 3600 m
3
initial failure
0m 1000m
Cervinara, Italy
measured trimline
simulated source slide
simulated entrainment zone
- assumed 3600 m
3
initial failure
- assumed 2m maximum erosion depth
0m 1000m



Cervinara, Italy
0m 1000m
0s
3600m
3
30s
49644m
3
60s
75523m
3
90s
75838m
3
120s
75864m
3
150s
75864m
3
180s
75864m
3
@ 30s intervals:
simulated flow margin
Cervinara, Italy
simulated final erosion depth
0m 2m
Cervinara, Italy
Huascaran, 1970
Source:
5 million m
3
rock
9 million m
3
ice
Entrainment:
39 million m
3
debris
Total:
53 million m
3
deposits


8 . 2
14
39
= = =
source
entrained
V
V
ER
Huascaran, entrainment zone
39 000 000/5 000 000 = 8 m average?