Commonalities between debris flows and flow failures

Abstract

Debris flow and flow failure are terms used to describe large displacement slope failures. The initiation or triggering often differs due to the nature and state of the material, but once triggered these two failure mechanisms both tend to behave like a Bingham plastic exhibiting a yield strength and a strain-rate dependent strength. In this paper the rheology of these failures is examined and compared to field data and lab data to find commonalities. A future goal is to move towards a common definition of the physics and a joint empirical database for improved statistics and predictive models. The authors own field investigations in Chile and lab investigations using shake table experiments will be reviewed along with studies by other researchers.