ESR11: International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIM), Barcelona, Spain

A unified approach to slope stability and debris flow with PFEM

Supervisor: Prof. Eugenio Oñate

Objective: Development of robust numerical schemes with the corresponding posteriori error estimation to achieve fast convergence of the unified numerical simulation

Methodology: PFEM, particularly appealing to cope with the mesh distortion in conventional FEM, will be developed to model slope failure and debris flow in one code, further to deal with the multiscale problem of localised deformation in multiphase media. The constitutive models developed in WP 1 can be implemented. We will integrate the developments in WP2 and WP3, particularly Task 3.1, to come up with a unified simulation of landslides and debris flows. The numerical results can be compared with those in Task 2.2. The usual assumption about catchments, volume and water content, which are needed for the subsequent runout analysis, will be obtained as natural outcomes. The calculation provide further information on the flow dynamics such as flow speed, depth, deposition pattern and impact force against objects. The simulations will be validated against the case studies in WP4.

Deliverable: Robust numerical schemes for the unified numerical simulation from slope failure to debris flow

Secondments: CEMA: 4 p-ms (case study, database), UNIPD: 2 p-ms (FEM benchmark), TUD: 2 p-ms (CFD benchmark)