Evaluation of the geosynthetic reinforced structure response to a debris flow impact

Rapid landslides are commonly mitigated by artificial embankments that can be constituted of granular material reinforced by geosynthetics. For their design, the evaluation of debris flow impact force against the structure is a crucial issue. The paper focuses on determining the forces transmitted over time to a geosynthetic reinforced structure and on analyzing its response to the impact in terms of horizontal displacement. The impact force has been evaluated adding the static component, depending on the flowing mass height, to the dynamic component, depending on both the flowing mass height and its velocity. In the analyses of the geosynthetic reinforced structure response, two cases have been considered regarding the soil – geogrid interaction: the first one considers a constant soil shear strength angle along the height of embankment the second one considers the variation of soil shear strength angle along the height.