Estimation of the area of sediment deposition by debris flow using a physical-based modeling approach

Abstract

Debris flow triggered by shallow landslides in hillslope catchments is a main geological phenomenon driving landscape changes, and represents an important natural hazard. Numerous studies have assessed sediment transport and deposition by debris flows in hillslope catchments. Thus, the objective of this study is a development of two-dimensional debris flow model to estimate sediment transport and deposition in hillslope catchments. To simulate debris flow, we implemented a vertically integrated shallow-water governing equation based on the Voellmy rheological model and a simple entrainment model. In addition, we applied a quadtree grid structure to support adaptive mesh refinement, where the mesh for the simulation was automatically generated as the debris flow proceeded. Finally, a well-balanced numerical scheme for wet–dry transition treatment was implemented and implicit discretization of the general source terms, including the rheological term, was included for numerical stability. The developed model was verified based on a debris flow triggered by the 2011 Mt. Umyeon landslides in the Republic of Korea. Sediment transport was successfully generated and the sediment deposition area generally matched the field survey data well. Overall, the simulated sediment volume was in good agreement with the survey results, with an error below 1%.