Flexible barriers are being increasingly applied to mitigate the danger ofdebris flows. However, how barriers can be better designed to withstand theimpact loads of debris flows is still an open question in natural hazardengineering. Here we report an improved large-scale physical modelling deviceand the results of two consecutive large-scale granular flow tests using thisdevice to study how flexible barriers react under the impact of granularflows. In the study, the impact force directly on the flexible barrier andthe impact force transferred to the supporting structures are measured,calculated, and compared. Based on the comparison, the impact loadingattenuated by the flexible barrier is quantified. The hydro-dynamicapproaches with different dynamic coefficients and the hydro-static approachare validated using the measured impact forces.
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