Physical modeling of debris flows over flexible ring net barriers

First ideas about a multilevel flexible barrier application were initiated within the research work at the Illgraben torrent, Switzerland, in 2006 (Wendeler 2008). The flexible test barrier was filled from an event in 2006 with around 1000 m3 of material and the rest of the total volume of 15,000 m3 overflowed the barrier without leading to any damage of the structural system (Fig. 1).