Comparison of Debris Flow Characteristics Obtained by Using Video Materials and Modeling

Velocity of debris flow is one of the most important characteristics for the protective construction design. Since debris flows are rare events, and observations are conducted only on stations in Russia, Ukraine, Italy, Switzerland, USA, China, Japan and New Zealand, the velocity is calculated rather than measured. Nowadays, a large number of videos with passing debris flows have appeared on the Internet. Scientists can use such video materials to obtain qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the debris flow. Therefore, the aim of our research is an attempt to measure the debris flow velocity using video materials and compare the obtained results with the calculated values using various methods. The debris flow that came down in Firgen, Austria on August 4, 2012 was chosen as the object of our study. The video was carried out from several angles, so it was possible to select a section of the channel, through which we could measure the debris flows waves velocity. In addition, we calculated the velocities of waves by formulas adopted in the regulatory documents and compared with the measured by video values. During the video analysis, debris flow velocities at different sites were observed: minimum—7.2 m/s and maximum—10 m/s. The calculated values varied from 4.5 m/s to 11.4 m/s. Moreover, we applied model of the transport-shear process of debris flow formation developed by Yu. B. Vinogradov. When we were comparing the obtained debris flow discharges with results from Austrian colleagues, we found out that the values were similar to each other. However, internal scatter in the model changed from 151 to 190 m³/s, while in the report of Austrian colleagues the discharges were from 80 to 250 m³/s.