The Transition from Granular Debris Flow to Bedload: a force balance perspective

Sediment transport can occur in a so-called “debris flow” form, where concentrations are high and movement is driven by gravity. Previous studies have predominantly used simple rheological fluids or uniform granular materials to study the characteristics of debris flows. However, a fundamental question remains regarding the characteristics of the complex granular debris flow, and the transition from granular debris flow to bedload remains poorly understood. In this contribution, we present an experiment in the laboratory where this phenomenon could be studied. Our experiment setup, a 6-meter-long wooden flume, involved a 1 m-long low-slope trapezoidal storage area and a 5 m-long and 0.1 m-wide wooden flume channel inclined at 33%, equipped with a force plate and hydrometer sensors. Our observations show that self-formed, highly concentrated sediment accumulation in the storage area, influenced by flow rate, generates pulses that exhibit three phases: the tail phase containing sand particles, the body phase containing a mixture of particles, and the front phase containing coarse particles. As discharge was dynamically increased, two distinct domains controlled by the forefront coarse particles were observed. Firstly, at low flow (0.14-0.16 l/sec), a static-dynamic domain is identified, characterized by a high sediment concentration and very low velocity. This generates a high resultant force magnitude that affects the forefront coarse particles, resulting in debris-flow-like pulses controlled by the sediment density. Secondly, at higher flows (0.17–0.24 l/sec), a full-dynamic domain is identified, characterized by a lower sediment concentration and very high velocities. This behavior generates hyperconcenrated flow-like pulses controlled by momentum transfer between the pulse phases. We demonstrated that the transition from debris and hyperconcentrated flow to bedload is controlled by the coarse particle’s mobility, whose threshold discharge in clear water was 0.22 l/sec. The important role played by the sand fraction is also demonstrated, which permits the static dynamics behavior by ensuring momentum transfer either directly, by mass transfer, or indirectly by reducing the medium porosity.