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Numerical insights into rock–ice avalanche geophysical flow mobility through CFD–DEM simulation

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Abstract

Geophysical flows like rock–ice avalanches have high mobility and destructive potential, causing global loss of life and property. Water, often from melted ice, significantly impacts their mobility. Experimental investigations of debris friction in a rotating drum with melting ice show reduced friction due to water. However, experimental limitations hinder extensive testing. Employing a numerical model can overcome this, facilitating the study of various scenarios in understanding such calamitous geophysical flows. In the current work, we numerically replicate the rotating drum experiment using Eulerian–Lagrangian CFD–DEM coupling. We focus on the initial and final states, considering a \(30\%\) gravel and \(70\%\) ice mixture (B12-070 ). We don’t model the ice melting; rather, we inject equivalent water over time. Our simulation captures changes in the frictional behavior of the gravel bulk and flow height profile, closely aligning with experimental observations.

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Abbreviations

\(c_\textrm{p}\) :

Specific heat (J/(kg K))

d :

Particle diameter (m)

\(I_\textrm{i}\) :

Moment of inertia (kg \(\textrm{m}^2\))

m :

Mass (kg)

\(m'\) :

Mass source (kg/\(\textrm{m}^3\) s)

p :

Pressure (Pa)

\(q'\) :

Heat source (W/\(\textrm{m}^2\))

\(q''\) :

Heat flux (W/\(\textrm{m}^2\))

r, R :

Radius (m)

t :

Time (s)

T :

Temperature (K)

\(T_{\textrm{final}}\) :

Length of simulation (s)

\(\vec {g}\) :

Acceleration due to gravity (m/s)

\(\vec {F^\textrm{c}}\) :

Contact forces (N)

\(\vec {F^\textrm{g}}\) :

Gravitational force (N)

\(\vec {F^{\textrm{ext}}}\) :

External forces (N)

\(\vec {F_\textrm{B}}\) :

Buoyancy force (N)

\(\vec {F_\textrm{D}}\) :

Drag force (N)

\(\vec {M_{i,j}}\) :

Torque generated by interparticle forces (N m)

\(\vec {S}\) :

Momentum source due particles

\(\vec {v}_\textrm{f}\) :

Fluid velocity field

\(\vec {X_i}\) :

Positional vector (m)

\(\vec {\omega }\) :

Rotational velocity (rad/s)

\(\alpha \) :

Heat transfer coefficient (W/(m K))

\(\beta \) :

Momentum exchange (kg/(\(\textrm{m}^3\) s)

\(\partial \) :

Differential operator (–)

\(\epsilon \) :

Volume fraction/porosity (–)

\(\mu \) :

Kinematic viscosity (Pa s)

\(\nabla \) :

Nabla operator (–)

\(\rho \) :

Density (kg/\(\textrm{m}^3\))

c:

Cell

cond:

Conduction

eff:

Effective values

f:

Fluid

i, j :

Particle

n:

Normal direction

p, P:

Particle

rad:

Radiation

t:

Tangential direction

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Acknowledgements

PA contributed to conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, figures, writing—original draft, and review revision and editing; ZF contributed to conceptualization, methodology, writing—original draft, and review revision and editing; TN performed review revision; BP performed review revision and supervision; XF contributed to funding acquisition, review revision and supervision.

Funding

This research is financially supported by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of China (Grant No. 42125702); Tencent Foundation through the XPLORER PRIZE (Grant No. XPLORER-2022-1012); Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province (Grant Nos. 22NSFSC0029 and 2023NSFSC0808); and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42207226). The numerical experiments presented in this paper were carried out using the HPC facilities of the University of Luxembourg—see https://hpc.uni.lu.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering, Maison du Nombre, University of Luxembourg, 6 Avenue de la Fonte, 4364, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

    Prasad Adhav & Bernhard Peters

  2. State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610059, China

    Zetao Feng, Tao Ni & Xuanmei Fan

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  1. Prasad Adhav
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Correspondence to Prasad Adhav.

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Adhav, P., Feng, Z., Ni, T. et al. Numerical insights into rock–ice avalanche geophysical flow mobility through CFD–DEM simulation. Comp. Part. Mech. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40571-023-00699-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40571-023-00699-3

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