Debris flows are mixtures of water, sediments and debris that initiate on mountain sides, travel down a confined steep channel at high velocity, and may turn into natural disasters for comm-unities and infrastructure. To prevent any destructive effect, precautionary measures are often employed, wherefore a fundamental understanding of the debris flow processes, e.g. velocity profiles, erosion and bulking, impact forces, etc., are needed. The relevant parameters of initiation and runout differ widely in characteristics. Thus, setting initial and boundary conditions for physical and numerical modeling is challenging. The aim of the investigation is hence to analyse velocity profiles and shear stresses of debris flows using variable but repeatable initial and boundary conditions. Combining and hybridizing physical and numerical models will lead to a better process understanding of these natural phenomena. The thesis will built on existing studies.
Figure: Debris flow at the Illgraben, Switzerland