The blocking of rivers by landslides is common in mountainous areas with deep and narrow valleys. Landslide dams may pose a severe threat to the safety of life and property downstream in the event of a sudden dam failure. The similarities and differences in failure characteristics between the large-scale and small-scale landslide dams are insufficiently understood. Relatively large-scale physical models to study the failure processes are expensive and time-consuming. Relatively small-scale experiments give a better opportunity to explore the failure mechanisms, but the scale effect needs to be considered. In this study, a large-scale test and three small-scale flume tests were conducted to study the failure characteristics of landslide dams with a scale ratio of 10:1. Experimental results showed that the large-scale and small-scale dam tests followed almost the same failure processes, which can be divided into three stages: seepage on the downstream surface, slope failure, and overtopping and erosion. But they differed in some quantitative outcomes such as the failure duration and pore water pressure value. The small-scale dam tests can be used to study the failure processes and mechanisms of landslide dams, but can not be used to predict the specific parameters due to the scale effect.

中文翻译：

---

不同规模非粘性土滑坡坝破坏机理试验研究

山体滑坡堵塞河流在山谷深而窄的山区很常见。滑坡坝一旦突然溃坝，可能对下游的生命财产安全造成严重威胁。对大型和小型滑坡坝破坏特征的异同尚不清楚。研究失效过程的相对大规模的物理模型既昂贵又耗时。相对小规模的实验为探索失效机制提供了更好的机会，但需要考虑规模效应。本研究通过1次大型试验和3次小规模水槽试验，研究了比例为10：1的滑坡坝的破坏特征。试验结果表明，大型和小型大坝试验的破坏过程几乎相同，可分为下游面渗流、边坡破坏、漫漫冲刷三个阶段。但它们在一些定量结果上存在差异，例如破坏持续时间和孔隙水压力值。小规模坝体试验可用于研究滑坡坝的破坏过程和机理，但由于尺度效应，不能用于预测具体参数。