Angle of Repose

(Materas provded n cass)

In ths actvty you w measure the maxmum sope at whch grans are
stabe (ange of repose). You w expore how dherent propertes of the
sedment nuence sope stabty and ead to dherent sope faures (mass
movements).
Materas
Pan or tray
Sedment sampes: dry sand, damp sand, anguar grave, rounded grave
protractor
sma scoop
contaner of water
Instructions (Read these carefuy or you w have to redo your responses!)
1. Sowy pour a stream of dry sand nto the center of your pan or tray.
Avod dsturbng your pe and carefuy measure the maxmum ange, or
steepest sope, of the dry sand. Ths sope s caed the ange of repose.
Record your answer on the data sheet (1).
2. Add a few grans (a pnch) of dry sand to the top of your pe and see
how the grans move. Repeat, observng the movement agan.
Descrbe the downward movement of the dry sand on the data sheet
(2). Note whether the sand grans move ndvduay or n arge groups.
3. Put a your dry sand back nto ts contaner. Sweep your tray cean (use
the garbage cans).
4. Repeat the experment usng damp sand. Pace a pe of damp sand n
the center of your pan or tray. You w probaby have to scoop the sand
nstead of pour t. You can genty pack the pe together, but use ony
gente pressure. What s the maxmum ange of the damp sand? (3)
5. Add a pnch of the damp sand to the top of the pe and see how the
grans move. Repeat, observng the movement agan. Descrbe the
downward movement of the damp sand on the data sheet (4). Note
whether the grans move ndvduay or n arge groups.
6. Wth the cup, slowly pour water onto the pe of damp sand and observe
what happens to the sand pe as the sand becomes saturated. Can the
saturated sand mantan ts ange of repose? (5).
7. Agan, cean up your mess and answer questons (6) - (9).
8. Sowy pour the rounded grave nto the center of your tray or pan.
Make sure your pe s arge enough to get the true ange of repose!
Carefuy measure the ange of repose, wthout dsturbng the pe.
Record ange (10). Pour the rounded grave back nto the contaner.
9. Repeat the experment usng the anguar grave and record the resuts
(11). Answer questons (12 and 13).
10. Put a materas away. Cean up your area.
Angle of Repose
(Materas provded n cass)
DATA SHEET Name: ______________________________
Group Members: ______________________________
______________________________
______________________________
______________________________
1.
Dry sand ange of repose s ____________
degrees.
2. Dry sand movement:
3.
Damp sand ange of repose s
___________degrees.
4.
Damp sand
movement:
5.
Can the saturated sand mantan a steep ange of
repose?
6.
Whch sedment condton - dry or damp - permts steeper sope anges?
_______
7. Whch sedment condton - dry or damp - ends tsef to the most
dramatc, quckest, and therefore most dangerous stye of sope faure?
______________
8
Expan why you thnk the damp sand can mantan a hgher ange of
repose than
the dry sand.
9.
Suppose a house s but on a sope made of sedment. The sope s
sghty
greater than the ange of repose. Is ths house at rsk from mass
movement?
10
.
Rounded grave ange of repose s _______
degrees.
11
.
Anguar grave ange of repose s ________
degrees.
12
.
Compare the ange of repose for the dry sand and the dry grave. What
mpact does gran sze have on the ange of repose?
Angle of Repose
(Materas provded n cass)
13
.
Compare the ange of repose for the rounded grave and the anguar
grave. What mpact does gran shape have on the ange of repose?
Use the resuts of your experments and the graphs beow to answer the
foowng questons. (If you are competng ths at home, pease type your
answer otherwse, pease use a separate sheet of paper.)
Source of data: Cty of Seatte, 1999. Seatte Landsde Study
http://www.seatte.gov/DPD/Landsde/Study/defaut.asp accessed August, 2005.
14. In the Seatte area, whch four months experence the greatest amount of
ranfa?
15. In the Seatte area, whch four months experence the hghest number of
andsdes?
16. Thnkng about the resuts of your experments (especay n Step 6),
expan why the peak andsde actvty occurs ater than the peak ranfa
actvty.
Angle of Repose
(Materas provded n cass)
The USGS has recenty deveoped and tested a mode that estabshes a
precptaton threshod for the Puget Sound Area as t reates to andsdes. In
ths area, andsdes tend to occur f the precptaton amount for a 15 day
perod exceeds a speced eve, and that 15 day perod s foowed by 3 days
of ran at certan eves. The graph beow shows the Precptaton Threshod
for Antcpatng the Occurrence of Landsdes.
Source: Cheborad, A.F.,
(2003) Premnary Evauaton of a Precptaton Threshod for Antcpatng the Occurrence of Landsdes
n the Seatte, Washngton, Area. U.S. Geoogc Survey OFR 03-463. Avaabe onne:
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2003/ofr-03-463/ofr-03-0463.htm.

17. Pace and abe a pont on the graph for the foowng days:
Date 15 day
cumuatve
precptaton
3 day
cumuatve
precptat
on
Landsdes
expected? (Yes,
no, maybe)
1/5/56 4.73 3.38
1/6/96 1.27 0.55
1/7/96 1.33 1.27
2/11/96 4.94 0.07
2/21/96 5.87 0.56
18. Expan why the 15 day and 3 day cumuatve precptaton woud be
crtca n determnng when andsdes mght occur.
Angle of Repose
(Materas provded n cass)
19. Why mght andsdes not occur after even severa nches of ran n 3
days f the amount of ran n the precedng 2 weeks has been ow?
20. Why woud andsdes not occur even f there had been a arge amount of
ran n the prevous 2 weeks, but tte ran n the ast 3 days?
Angle of Repose
(Materas provded n cass)
How to measure the angle of repose
You can measure he ange one of two ways, wth a protractor or by usng
smpe trgonometry. Ether way. make sure you are measurng the correct
ange:
To measure wth a protractor, carefuy ne up the center pont of the
protractor wth the edge of the pe and determne the ange.
An easer way to measure the ange s to use trgonometry. As you can see
from above, the pe of sand can be thought of as 2 rght tranges. For a
rght trange,
TAN (A) = Opposte/Ad|acent (remember SOHCAHTOA!?)
So the TAN(A) = heght of the sand pe (h) / radus of the sand pe (r)
To nd the ange, you need to take the nverse tangent of both sdes..
A=TAN
-1
(h/r)
For most cacuators you w need to rst dvde the heght by the radus and
then press the TAN-
1
button on your cacuator. If the number comes out to
somethng that doesnt make sense, make sure your cacuator s n degree
mode, not radan mode!
This is the angle
you want to
measure
The height
of the pile
The radius of your
pile of sediment