Breaching flow slides are accompanied by the generation of turbidity currents. Measurements of these currents are critical for understanding the interaction between the turbidity current and the slope surface, as well as for the validation of numerical models. However, there are insufficient data available detailing the velocity distribution or sediment concentration in these currents. This paper presents experimental results of unique large‐scale physical model experiments on breaching flow slides conducted at the water lab of Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. The model tests were carried out in a tank with a subaqueous sandy slope steeper than the internal friction angle for that sand. We performed a series of novel experiments in which various nonvertical initial slope angles were tested, providing the first quantitative data for such initial conditions. Measurements of flow thickness, velocities, and sediment concentrations are obtained, providing the spatial and temporal evolution of the turbidity currents and the resulting underwater slope morphology. The experimental results reveal that the breaching‐generated turbidity currents are self‐accelerating and that they dominate the problem of breaching flow slides. We evaluated the theoretical expression for the erosion velocity in the case of pure beaching—where the turbidity current has no influence on the erosion—and it overestimated the observed erosion. The analysis of the failure evolution showed that the sand erosion rate increases due to the acceleration of the turbidity currents downslope, until a certain threshold, leading to the steepening of the breach face and thus the occurrence of surficial slides.

中文翻译：

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破坏流动滑坡和相关浊流的大型实验

破裂的滑流伴随着浊流的产生。这些电流的测量对于理解浊度电流和斜坡表面之间的相互作用以及数值模型的验证至关重要。但是，没有足够的数据来详细说明这些水流中的速度分布或沉积物浓度。本文介绍了在荷兰代尔夫特理工大学水实验室进行的突破性流动滑道的独特大规模物理模型实验的实验结果。模型试验是在水底砂质坡度比该砂的内摩擦角陡的水箱中进行的。我们进行了一系列新颖的实验，其中测试了各种非垂直初始倾斜角，提供此类初始条件的第一定量数据。获得了水流厚度，速度和沉积物浓度的测量值，从而提供了浊流的时空演化以及由此产生的水下边坡形态。实验结果表明，破坏产生的浊流是自加速的，它们主导了破坏滑流的问题。我们评估了在纯滩的情况下侵蚀速度的理论表达式（在该情况下，浊流对侵蚀没有影响），并且高估了观测到的侵蚀。对破坏演化的分析表明，由于浊流下降坡的加速作用，直到一定阈值时，砂土侵蚀率才增加。