Effects of flow regimes on the interaction between granular flow and flexible barrier

Flexible barriers are widely used to mitigate granular flows. In practice, flow regimes may keep changing along a flow path after the initiation of granular flows. The effects of flow regimes should be considered in the design of flexible barriers to intercept granular flow. In this study, flow regimes are divided into three types: dilute flow; dense flow; and quasistatic flow. The impact mechanisms of dense granular flows and dilute granular flows against flexible barriers are investigated using flume tests and the discrete element method. Influences of the ratio of the average particle size to the mesh size of a flexible barrier and particle segregation on the interaction between the flexible barrier and the granular flow are revealed. Differences of the impact mechanisms between rockfall and granular flow are compared. Results show that the impact force of dense granular flow against a flexible barrier will not increase linearly with the average particle size. The tensile force of the bottom cable is usually the maximum tensile force among all cables of the flexible barrier. Particle segregation will lead to increase in impact force of dense flows and tensile force of the upper cables. Impact force of the dilute granular flow increases with the average particle size. Different from the failure of a flexible barrier under the impact of the dense flow, the middle and upper cables are easier to break. Based on these findings, a useful reference for the future design of flexible barriers was proposed.