Sediment Run-Out Processes and Possibility of Sediment Control Structures in the 2013 Izu-Ohshima Event

Abstract

Typhoon No. 26 in 2013 attacked the Izu-Oshima Island with record heavy rainfall and caused a disaster resulting from landslides and mud flows. This extreme event is the motivation of our study on how we evaluate hazardous zones at risk of mud flows and how we design structural and non-structural measures accordingly. The present study describes sediment runout processes, mud flow control by means of a guide wall, and a method to evaluate topological conditions in which landslides and mud flows avalanche into unexpected areas. The landslides took place in the western slope of Izu-Oshima, which is only about 2500m wide. Analyses on phase shifting from solid to liquid as well as on mobility of the soil masses suggest that the soil masses released by the landslides transformed directly into mud flows, and that the mud flows developed in size through sediment erosion in their run-out processes. The predicted results by means of a numerical model based on depth-integrated governing equations of sediment-water mixture flow suggest that mud flows could be controlled well using a guide wall, which shows a high possibility of mud flow control using a storage structure with a guide wall. In addition, we propose a simple method to evaluate topological conditions to judge whether mud flows will enter unexpected areas, which will provide a key to identify hazardous zones including even those that have been missed out conventionally.