Ryuhei TATEISHI, Toshiyuki HORIGUCHI, Joji SHIMA, Takahisa MIZUYAMA and Yoshimi SONODA
Sediment disasters cause human injuries, loss of life, as well as cultural heritage sites. Among other problems, woody debris hazards have increased due to typhoons and localized torrential rain. In particular, woody debris hazards have eroded river in the upstream region because of removal costs of woody debris from dam reservoirs and damage on dam sites. One of such counter measures is a steel open]type Sabo dams which consist of steel pipes, and they are designed to allow soil and small gravels to pass downstream through the gaps. When the debris flow has occurred, the Sabo dam can capture large rocks by trap mechanism of arch action. According to the report of the Izu]Oshima disaster case, steel open dams have captured woody drifts and sediment without rocks. Some of authors also surveyed the disaster site and noticed that steel open dams captured the woody debris which was intertwined with woody roots and sediment. However, the mechanism has not yet been clarified concerning why steel open dams have trapped the woody debris with roots and sediment without rocks. This paper presents an experimental approach on clarification of blockage of a steel open dam by woody roots and trap mechanism of following sediment by using a straight channel. The experiment sets up the steel open dam model in a straight channel and a mixed sand with driftwood model flow down from the upstream. Sand capturing mechanism and an influence of driftwood shape are observed. Finally, it is pointed out that roots of driftwood show significant effect on capturing ratio of sands.
Key wordsFsteel open dam, woody debris flow, drift wood roots, sediment disaster, trap mechanism