• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.696-706
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to verify experimentally debris reduction facilities for culverts installed in small rivers. A culvert is defined as a structure laid under a road or a railroad that passes through an inner urban area or downtown area to make an artificial canal. Culverts are generally categorized into road culverts or waterway culverts, among which the latter are artificial structures designed to discharge running water into a river. At the time of floods, the structural safety of waterway culverts can be undermined by the accumulation of debris, such as soil, boughs and weeds, and they may be at risk of overflowing due to blockages. Debris reduction facilities are necessary to prevent such damage. In this study, the effects of the three existing types of debris reduction facilities were examined through hydraulic experiments. The results of the experiments showed that vertical separation to divert debris reduced the accumulation rate by 27.65 to 31.39 percent. The two types of screen designed to block and divert debris, respectively, were found to have excellent debris blocking abilities. However, when the effects of the rising water level are considered simultaneously, the screen to divert debris was found to show superior effects. The screen to block debris can be considered to have excellent debris blocking ability, but requires the continuous collection of the debris, due to the high risk of rising water levels caused by its accumulation.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.34-44
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• 2016

This study is an experimental study about a facility for preventing the accumulation of floating debris at a bridge by flooding at a small river. Generally, structures installed at a small river are damaged frequently by floating debris during typhoons or localized rainfall events. On the other hand, there is no method available for preventing such damage. The facilities used in other countries to prevent such damage by the accumulation of floating debris include debris fins, deflectors, and sweeper. Among these facilities, the present study was conducted with a sweeper to investigate the damage-reducing capability through a real-scale accumulation experiment. A sweeper was installed in front of a bridge to bypass floating debris by self-rotation so that the floating debris may not be accumulate at the bridge. A small bridge model was prepared in a real-scale for the real-scale experiment. The accumulation reducing capability was compared through an accumulation experiment before and after the sweeper installation depending on the length of the debris and flow conditions. The result showed that the accumulation rate increased with increasing length of the debris or decreasing flow rate. The installation of a sweeper decreased the debris accumulation rate by a minimum of 55% to a maximum of 88% compared to the case without an installed sweeper. The result of the present study showed that the installation of a sweeper at a small river having a high potential of generating floating debris may help secure the stability of a bridge in the case of floating debris accumulation.