Experimental study of the impact factors of natural dam failure introduced by a landslide surge.

A large amount of loose deposit between the sides of a landslide lake may slide into a reservoir at any time because of influences such as earthquakes, heavy rainfall or other triggering factors. These factors can cause the formation of a huge surge and result in the instantaneous failure of a landslide dam. The failure of a landslide dam can threaten people's lives and property downstream. This paper analyzes the destruction mechanism of landslide dams because of a surge and the impact of the contact area, the landslide height, and the distance between the entry point and the dam site for a dam break through physical experiment and compares the experimental results with the calculated values. Experimental results show that the contact area and the landslide height have a significant impact on the dam-break surge. A measure based on the previously mentioned factors can be made to reduce the dam failure risk caused by a landslide surge. Two empirical methods (Pan's method and Miller's method) are used to predict the landslide surge wave and compared with the experimental results; the simulated results show that the Miller's method used for predicting the landslide surge wave is more reasonable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]