Landslide generated impulse waves.

Landslide generated impulse waves were investigated in a two-dimensional physical laboratory model based on the generalized Froude similarity. Digital particle image velocimetry (PIV) was applied to the landslide impact and wave generation. Areas of interest up to 0.8 m by 0.8 m were investigated. The challenges posed to the measurement system in an extremely unsteady three-phase flow consisting of granular matter, air, and water were considered. The complex flow phenomena in the first stage of impulse wave initiation are: high-speed granular slide impact, slide deformation and penetration into the fluid, flow separation, hydrodynamic impact crater formation, and wave generation. During this first stage the three phases are separated along sharp interfaces changing significantly within time and space. Digital masking techniques are applied to distinguish between phases thereafter allowing phase separated image processing. PIV provided instantaneous velocity vector fields in a large area of interest and gave insight into the kinematics of the wave generation process. Differential estimates such as vorticity, divergence, elongational, and shear strain were extracted from the velocity vector fields. The fundamental assumption of irrotational flow in the Laplace equation was confirmed experimentally for these non-linear waves. Applicability of PIV at large scale as well as to flows with large velocity gradients is highlighted.List of symbols a wave amplitude (L) - c wave celerity (LT^–1) - d_diff diffraction limited minimum particle image diameter (L) - d_e diffracted particle image diameter (L) - d_g granulate grain diameter (L) - d_p seeding particle diameter (L) - d recorded particle image diameter (L) - f focal length (L) - f_# f number (-) - F slide Froude number (-) - g gravitational acceleration (LT^–2) - h still-water depth (L) - H wave height (L) - l_s slide length (L) - L wavelength (L) - M magnification (-) - m_s slide mass (M) - n refractive index (-) - n_por slide porosity (-) - N_iw number of seeding particles in an interrogation window (-) - N_pair number of detected particle image pairs in window (-) - p interrogation window size p×p pixels; 1 pixel=9 m (L) - P probability (-) - P_il probability of in-plane loss of particle (-) - P_ol probability of out-of-plane loss of particle (-) - s slide thickness (L) - S relative slide thickness (-) - t time after impact (T) - T wave period (T) - v velocity (LT^–1) - v_p particle velocity (LT^–1) - v_px streamwise horizontal component of particle velocity (LT^–1) - v_py crosswise horizontal component of particle velocity (LT^–1) - v_pz vertical component of particle velocity (LT^–1) - v_s slide centroid velocity at impact (LT^–1) - V dimensionless slide volume (-) - V_iw interrogation volume (L³) - V_s slide volume (L³) - x streamwise coordinate (L) - x_ip area of view x dimension in image plane (L) - z vertical coordinate (L) - slide impact angle (°) - bed friction angle (°) - y depth of field (L) - t laser pulse separation (T) - x mean particle image x displacement in interrogation window (L) - _x random displacement x error (L) - _v random velocity v error (LT^–1) - _tot total random velocity v error (LT^–1) - _bias velocity v error due to biased correlation analysis (LT^–1) - _optics velocity v error due to optical imaging errors (LT^–1) - _track velocity v error due to particle flow tracking error (LT^–1) - _xx streamwise horizontal elongational strain component (1/T) - _xz shear strain component (1/T) - _zx shear strain component (1/T) - _zz vertical elongational strain component (1/T) - water surface displacement (L) - wavelength (L) - dynamic viscosity (ML^–1T^–1) - density (ML^–3) - _g granulate density (ML^–3) - _p particle density (ML^–3) - _s mean slide density (ML^–3) - _w water density (ML^–3) - granulate internal friction angle (°) - _y vorticity vector component (out-of-plane) (1/T)