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Dynamic process analysis for the formation of Yangjiagou landslide-dammed lake triggered by the Wenchuan earthquake, China

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Abstract

The damming of rivers by landslides resulting in the formation of a lake was one of the typical secondary geological hazards triggered by the Wenchuan earthquake which occurred on May 12, 2008. Some landslide-dammed lakes were at a high risk of causing further damage since the rainstorm season was expected soon after the earthquake. Understanding the dynamic processes in the formation of landslide-dammed lakes is helpful in planning the mitigation measures. The Yangjiagou landslide-dammed lake was selected as a case study to investigate the typical processes of dam formation. The dynamic simulation of the formation of the Yangjiagou landslide-dammed lake was divided into two steps: the landslide step and the overflow/overtopping step. Two-dimensional discrete element method (DEM) was adopted to investigate the mechanics of the Yangjiagou landslide. The landslide process was found to be controlled by the bond strength and residual friction coefficient of the DEM models. Computational results show that the formation of the landslide dam took approximately 35 s. The maximum velocity of a typical particle was approximately 26.8 m/s. The shallow-water equation and finite difference method were used to analyze the hydrodynamic mechanisms of the overflow process of the landslide-dammed lake. Computational results show that overflow would have occurred 15.1 h after the river was blocked, and overtopping failure occurs for the landslide dam in the rainstorm season when the water flow is large enough, causing a major disaster.

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Acknowledgments

The support of the Key Project of Chinese National Programs for Fundamental Research and Development (no. 2011CB409902), Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (no. 41030742, 41102194), and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Funded Project (no. 20110491741) are gratefully acknowledged. Critical comments by two anonymous reviewers greatly improved the initial manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Earth Surface Processes, Chinese Academy of Science, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610044, People’s Republic of China

    Jia-wen Zhou, Peng Cui & Hua Fang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610065, People’s Republic of China

    Jia-wen Zhou

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  1. Jia-wen Zhou
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  2. Peng Cui
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Correspondence to Jia-wen Zhou.

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Zhou, Jw., Cui, P. & Fang, H. Dynamic process analysis for the formation of Yangjiagou landslide-dammed lake triggered by the Wenchuan earthquake, China. Landslides 10, 331–342 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-013-0387-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-013-0387-3

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