A series of two-phase models for grain–fluid flows with dilatancy

Debris flows are a growing natural hazard as a result of climate change and population density. To effectively assess this hazard, simulating field-scale debris flows at a reasonable computational cost is crucial. We enhance existing debris flow models by rigorously deriving a series of depth-averaged shallow models with varying complexities describing the behaviour of grain–fluid flows, considering granular mass dilatancy and pore fluid pressure feedback. The most complete model includes a mixture layer with an upper fluid layer, and solves for solid and fluid velocity in the mixture and for the upper fluid velocity. Simpler models are obtained by assuming velocity equality in the mixture or single-layer descriptions with a virtual thickness. Simulations in a uniform configuration mimicking submarine landslides and debris flows reveal that these models are extremely sensitive to the rheology, the permeability (grain diameter) and initial volume fraction, parameters that are hard to measure in the field. Notably, velocity equality assumptions in the mixture hold true only for low permeability (corresponding to grain diameter $d=10^{-3}$ m). The one-layer models’ results can strongly differ from those of the complete model, for example, the mass can stop much earlier. One-layer models, however, provide a rough estimate of two-layer models when permeability is low, initial volume fraction is far from critical and the upper fluid layer is very thin. Our work with uniform settings highlights the need of developing two-layer models accounting for dilatancy and for an upper layer made either of fluid or grains.