Evaluating the sediment control and transport of cascade check dams at Guanmenzi Gully, Beichuan County, China

The implementation of the cascade check dam system, which integrates beam and closed-type dams, has been extensively adopted as a pivotal engineering measure for mitigating debris flow in Southwest China. In the post-debris flow events, it is imperative to quantitatively assess the volume of sediment volume captured by the cascade check dams and to monitor their impact on sediment dynamics. This study investigates the cascade check dams in Guanmenzi Gully, Beichuan County, Sichuan Province in Southwest China, surveying the reservoir topography of the dams on two occasions over a five-year period. The #3 closed-type dam, located in the upper upstream, the #2 closed-type dam, located in the middle stream (which was manually cleaned), and the beam dam, located in the downstream were all surveyed. A simplified yet accurate method was developed to estimate sediment volume within check dam reservoirs under complex topographic conditions. A combination of terrestrial surveys and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) based surveys was employed, resulting in the acquisition of two high-resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) at different temporal intervals. The utilization of DEMs of Difference (DoD) facilitated the quantification of terrain variations and the sediment transport. The following conclusions were obtained: firstly, it was found that the volume of sediment trapped in the reservoirs of #2 closed-type dam and #1 beam dam were almost the same, with #3 closed-type dam being the smallest. The validation of the results in conjunction with the geometric method demonstrated that the percentage error was less than 7%, proving the reliability of the results. In addition, an analysis of changes in the detailed topography of the reservoirs revealed that the sediment deposit occurred in areas distant from the structures, while erosion exhibited concentration in specific areas close to the dams. The percentage volume of sediment deposit was found to be significantly higher than that of erosion (all higher than 85%). Furthermore, the excessive sediment deposition reduces the storage capacity of closed-type check dams, whereas in the case of beam dams, the maximum erosion amount in the reservoir is 35.8 m³ and the percentage of the maximum erosion amount is 14.00%. This suggests that the self-cleaning of beam dam can effectively slow down the sediment deposition process. Finally, the current study proposes an expression for storage capacity composition and suggests that, in engineering practice, emphasis should be placed on maintenance programs that synergize manual cleaning and self-cleaning of open-type check dams. The conclusions may facilitate the refinement of maintenance strategies of cascade check dams, thereby effectively preventing and mitigating debris flows.