Experimental Study on the Effectiveness of Protective Sheets Designed to Prevent Soil Erosion Caused by Rainfall : A Case Step Change of Rainfall Intensity through the Use of a Large Scale Rainfall Simulator

To investigate the effcctiveness of method to protect soil against erosion caused by rainfall, an experiment was carried out using a large scale rainfall simulator. Selected protection methods were (a) covering with three types of sheets (b) setting with three types of obstacle just below the ground level c burring canal under the ground. Each protection method was set up in a plot having a slope of 18° and a length of 10m, except for a method of a covering sheet which was set up in a three plots having different length of slope I.e. 5, 7 and 10m. Rainfall was simulated on the slope continuously. The intensity of the rainfall varied between 25 mm/hr for 4 hours to 200 mm/hr for 1 hour. The volume of run-off and the mass of sediment from these plots were measured every 10 minutes. From the results obtained, it was found that, in the case of rainfall intensity 50 mm/hr, the protection methods of covering sheets (a) were all more effective than the other protection methods (b) and c.

soil erosion

rainfall

protective sheet

rainfall simulator