Analysis of factors influencing the construction of a check dam to reduce damage caused by debris flow

The check dam is one of the most effective countermeasures to reduce the damage caused by debris flows. While several previous studies have tried to find the priority factor of check dam construction, there are still limitations in terms of quantitive analysis for figuring out the factor of check dam influencing debris flow damages. This study analyzed the most influential factor to assess the best location for the mitigation effect through numerical simulations, which are on the Raemian apartment at Mt. Umyeon in Seoul and Gallam-ri in Gangwon-do, the Republic of Korea, in 2011 and 2019, respectively. The simulation results were quantitatively analyzed by Spearman's rank correlation method. As a result, it was found that the topographical components are more reasonable than flow characteristics in the construction of the check dam. In particular, the check dam constructed at the point which could store more debris revealed the best performance in mitigation effect.