RillerosionisadominantprocessofmorphologicalevolutionoftheLoessPlateauinChina,anddeliveriesmuchloesssedimenttorivers.Datafromtwoflumeexperimentsconductedonthebareandglass-coveredbedsindicatedthatthefillflowdevelopsintoaseriesofrollingwaves.Theshearstressontherillbeddistributesunevenlybothspatiallyandtemporally.Anewmethodbasedontheenergyconservationlawisproposedinthisstudy.Thustherelationshipbetweentherunoffenergyconsumptionfromtheinteractionofwaterflowandslopebedandsoildetachmentisformulated.Theresultsshowedthatthedataforthesoildetachmentrateonslope(Dr)andtheenergyconsumptionofrunoff(E1)fittedwellwithnewly-developedfunction.Therillerosionoccurswhentherunoffenergyconsumptionexceedsacriticalvalue.
