Abstract
An experimental program was carried out to investigate the effect of landslide (or mudslide) velocity on the drag force applied by the sliding soil on a pipeline crossing the landslide area. Methods currently used in assessing drag forces are reviewed and compared to the experimental results. These results demonstrated that an increase in slide velocity results in higher drag forces and therefore that the assumption of a constant drag coefficient is not valid. The relationship between velocity and drag force was found to be represented remarkably well by a simple power-law equation. This equation was also successfully applied to experimental results reported in the literature.
