Location
Chicago, Illinois
Date
02 May 2013, 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Abstract
Al-Hada descent lies at the western region of Saudi Arabia at elevation of about 2000m, characterized by sharp cliff. Al-Hada descent road was constructed with an elevation difference of 1500m between the highest and lowest heights along the road. The road alignment is intersected by 8 very steep gullies of almost 60 to 80 degrees. The gullies contain large quantity of mud, old levees and large rock blocks. Al-Hada descent road hit two weeks ago with heavy rainfall last about 2 hours. The rainstorm initiates 11 debris flows on steep gullies, and caused them to travel rapidly down along the gully channel. Once the flow reaches a less confined area at the retaining wall, it partially destroy the gabions above it, and edges of the retaining walls across the gullies and overflow them, as they received more rolling, sliding and bouncing rocks from higher steep elevations. The moving debris flows spread out, loose speed and deposited beyond the highway opposite side. Temporary solution is made by removing almost 100.000m3, of the debris flow in one gully and scaling the remaining debris body to an angle of more than 35°. A permanent solution for this case history is under intensive study.
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Meeting Name
7th Conference of the International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering
Publisher
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Document Version
Final Version
Rights
© 2013 Missouri University of Science and Technology, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
File Type
text
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Sadagah, Bahaaeldin; Al-Amri, Abdulrahman; Aazam, Mohammed S.; and Al-Hoseiny, Omar, "Rainfall-Induced Debris Flows Case History Along Al-Hada Descent Highway West of Saudi Arabia" (2013). International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering. 73.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icchge/7icchge/session03/73
Rainfall-Induced Debris Flows Case History Along Al-Hada Descent Highway West of Saudi Arabia
Chicago, Illinois
Al-Hada descent lies at the western region of Saudi Arabia at elevation of about 2000m, characterized by sharp cliff. Al-Hada descent road was constructed with an elevation difference of 1500m between the highest and lowest heights along the road. The road alignment is intersected by 8 very steep gullies of almost 60 to 80 degrees. The gullies contain large quantity of mud, old levees and large rock blocks. Al-Hada descent road hit two weeks ago with heavy rainfall last about 2 hours. The rainstorm initiates 11 debris flows on steep gullies, and caused them to travel rapidly down along the gully channel. Once the flow reaches a less confined area at the retaining wall, it partially destroy the gabions above it, and edges of the retaining walls across the gullies and overflow them, as they received more rolling, sliding and bouncing rocks from higher steep elevations. The moving debris flows spread out, loose speed and deposited beyond the highway opposite side. Temporary solution is made by removing almost 100.000m3, of the debris flow in one gully and scaling the remaining debris body to an angle of more than 35°. A permanent solution for this case history is under intensive study.
