Analysis of the trapping capacity of vertical slit check dams

Check dams are one of the most important structures constructed to control flood disasters. However, classical check dams are not very effective in retaining the woody material in the flood basin which starts to drift during the disaster. Since the woody material is moving on the surface of the water, it easily overflows over the check dams and blocks the structures such as bridges and culverts in the downstream and causes the damage of the flood to increase. Open check dams are structures that allow the capture of material of certain sizes and the passage of material of smaller sizes, and they are also effective in trapping woody material. However, large amounts of woody material can clog the open check dams in a short time and cause it to behave like a classical check dam, distracting this structure from its main function. The study is to experimentally compare the trapping capacities of different check dams found in the literature for trapping woody materials in open check dams. For this purpose, the trapping capacity of two different open check dams was experimentally investigated. One of the check dams used in the study is a slit-type open check dam, and the other is designed in a V-shape with the same opening widths. It was observed that the trapping rate of the slit-type open check dam was higher at low discharge values and low woody material amounts, while the trapping rate of the V-shaped open check dam was higher at high discharge values and larger amounts of woody material. Future studies are recommended to investigate different types of check dams, V-shaped check dams with varying lengths and angles, and to compare experimental results with numerical models.