Nowadays, hydrogeological instability is a very critical issue because of its impact on population, infrastructures and economic and productive sectors. This makes essential to use advanced and reliable defense technologies, which are able to guarantee high performance and reliability. Flexible and permeable structures are ideal for stopping natural phenomena like debris flow, thanks to their high deformation capacity and their water permeability. This study presents some results obtained from laboratory tests related to the impact of a simulated debris flow against a scaled physical model of the barrier. A granular flow composed of aggregates of known size particle was released in a channel with variable inclination and known length and height. Using this experimental setup, several tests were carried out by varying the inclination of the channel and the geometry of the barrier. The results obtained were correlated with data deriving from a simplified analytical model; the comparison between the measured and calculated values made possible to assess the good prediction capability of the model, providing a simple and innovative tool to design and assess the safety of deformable protection barriers.

如今，水文地质的不稳定性是一个非常关键的问题，因为它对人口，基础设施以及经济和生产部门造成了影响。这对于使用能够保证高性能和可靠性的先进可靠的防御技术至关重要。柔性且可渗透的结构由于其高变形能力和透水性，是阻止自然现象（如泥石流）的理想之选。这项研究提出了从实验室测试中获得的一些结果，这些结果与模拟的泥石流对屏障的按比例缩放的物理模型的影响有关。由已知大小的颗粒的聚集体组成的粒状流以可变的倾角和已知的长度和高度在通道中释放。使用此实验设置，通过改变通道的倾斜度和屏障的几何形状进行了几次测试。获得的结果与简化分析模型中的数据相关；测量值和计算值之间的比较使评估模型的良好预测能力成为可能，为设计和评估可变形保护壁垒的安全性提供了一种简单而创新的工具。