Publications related to Debris flow

Enhancing Flood Resilience: Sediment Management in Le Bez Torrent

Giovanni De Cesare, Azin Amini, Romain Nathan Hippolyte Merlin Van Mol

In the canton of Bern, Switzerland, the “Le Bez” torrent is known for its flash floods, causing sediment and wood debris buildup in Villeret village settled on the alluvial fan. To mitigate this issue, a sediment/wood trap system is being implemented upstr ...

Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT)2023

Ultrasonic sediment flux profiling with ACVP Technology: application to sediment-laden Boundary Layer flows

Giovanni De Cesare, David Hurther

Sediment transport in geophysical boundary layer flows has relevance to a broad spectrum of sciences ranging from the physical and chemical, to the biological, ecological and geological. Advances in sediment transport modelling and prediction strongly suff ...

2023

Reactivation of variably sealed joints and permeability enhancement in geothermal reservoir rocks

Alexandra Roma Larisa Kushnir, Michael Heap

Hydraulic stimulation of enhanced deep geothermal reservoirs commonly targets pre-existing joint networks with the goal of increasing reservoir permeability. Here, we study the permeability and strength of joint-free and jointed Buntsandstein sandstones fr ...

2023

Advancing spacecraft demisability through a novel composite bolt joint system: a step toward sustainable and safe space environments

Véronique Michaud, Alexandre Achille Looten, Muriel Richard, Antonio Caiazzo

From the recent awareness of the booming number of space debris and their derived worldwide re-entry event threat originating from the use of high survivability components, complementary mitigation measures must be taken for future orbital elements. In thi ...

2023

Density currents driven by differential cooling in lakes: occurrence, dynamics and implications for littoral-pelagic exchange

Tomy Doda

Cross-shore flows exchange water laterally in lakes, with ecological implications for the ecosystem. One example is the convective circulation induced by differential cooling, also known as the thermal siphon. This lateral flow forms when the sloping sides ...

EPFL2022

Breakdown of Reye’s theory in nanoscale wear

Jean-François Molinari, Antonio Joaquin Garcia Suarez, Tobias Brink

Building on an analogy to ductile fracture mechanics, we quantify the size of debris particles created during adhesive wear. Earlier work suggested a linear relation between tangential work and wear debris volume, assuming that the debris size is proportio ...

2023

Fiber Buckling in Confined Viscous Flows: An Absolute Instability Described by the Linear Ginzburg-Landau Equation

François Gallaire, Jean Cappello

We explore the dynamics of a flexible fiber transported by a viscous flow in a Hele-Shaw cell of height comparable to the fiber height. We show that long fibers aligned with the flow experience a buckling instability. Competition between viscous and elasti ...

AMER PHYSICAL SOC2022

Understanding the mechanisms of adhesive wear for heterogeneous materials through atomistic simulations

Jean-François Molinari, Antonio Joaquin Garcia Suarez, Sacha Zenon Wattel

When two rough surfaces slide against each other, two main behaviors can be observed at the asperity level: A ductile behavior where the asperities tend to smooth out or a brittle behavior where the asperities detach and form debris. Recently, a critical l ...

2022

Numerical investigation of the effect of cohesion and ground friction on snow avalanches flow regimes

Johan Alexandre Philippe Gaume, Betty Sovilla

With ongoing global warming, snow avalanche dynamics may change as snow cohesion and friction strongly depend on temperature. In the field, a diversity of avalanche flow regimes has been reported including fast, sheared flows and slow plugs. While the sign ...

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE2022

Quantifying the transition of impact mechanisms of geophysical flows against flexible barrier

Xingyue Li

Flexible barriers have been increasingly used worldwide for mitigating natural hazards involving various geophysical flows. The analysis and design of flexible barriers need to distinguish two major impact mechanisms, runup and pile-up, which remain poorly ...

ELSEVIER2021

Bedload transport assessment on a physical model of a large river widening using ultrasonic Doppler velocity measurements

Giovanni De Cesare, Azin Amini, Jean-Noël Saugy

The 3rd correction of the Rhône River is the largest flood protection project in Switzerland so far. Covering a length of 162 km, it aims to protect some 100,000 people and prevent flood damages, which could raise up to 10 billion Swiss francs for major ev ...

ETH Zurich, Laboratory of Food Process Engineering2021

Policy options to address collision risk from space debris

Romain Buchs

This IRGC policy brief focuses on the risk of collision from space debris. It provides a range of policy options and broad recommendations to improve the assessment, evaluation and management of collision risk, as well as its communication. It is based on ...

EPFL2021

Particle-size segregation and rheology coupling in dense granular flows

Tomás Alfredo Trewhela Palacios

Dense granular flows -debris or pyroclastic flows, avalanches, granular flows in heaps, silos or rotating drums-are ubiquitous to many natural and industrial processes. Their grain composition is often polydisperse, with particles differing in shape, size ...

EPFL2021

Three-dimensional and real-scale modeling of flow regimes in dense snow avalanches

Johan Alexandre Philippe Gaume, Betty Sovilla, Xingyue Li

Snow avalanches cause fatalities and economic loss worldwide and are one of the most dangerous gravitational hazards in mountainous regions. Various flow behaviors have been reported in snow avalanches, making them challenging to be thoroughly understood a ...

2021

The concept of the mobilized domain: how it can explain and predict the forces exerted by a cohesive granular avalanche on an obstacle

Christophe Ancey, Johan Alexandre Philippe Gaume, Betty Sovilla, Michael Lukas Kyburz

The calculation of the impact pressure on obstacles in granular flows is a fundamental issue of practical relevance, e.g. for snow avalanches impacting obstacles. Previous research shows that the load on the obstacle builds up, due to the formation of forc ...

2022

Effect of debris damming on wave-induced hydrodynamic loads against free-standing buildings with openings

Anton Schleiss, Michael Pfister, Davide Wüthrich, Claudia Ylla Arbos

Tsunamis, impulse waves, and dam-break waves are rare but catastrophic events, associated with casualties and damage to infrastructures. An adequate description of these waves is vital to assure human safety and to generate resilient structures. Furthermor ...

2020

Experimental study of impulse waves generated by viscoplastic fluid

Zhenzhu Meng

Landslide-generated waves, also called impulse waves, occur as a result of the intrusion of landslides (such as rock falls, debris flows, and avalanches) into bodies of water (such as lakes, reservoirs, and seas). The objective of this thesis was to study ...

EPFL2020

Fault Stability Across the Seismogenic Zone

François Xavier Thibault Passelègue

Across the seismogenic zone, the transition from brittle to plastic deformation corresponds to a semibrittle regime where brittle fracturing and plastic flow coexist at high strength conditions. Thorough experimental investigations on brittle-plastic trans ...

AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION2020

Design of sediment detention basins: Scaled model experiments and application

Anton Schleiss, Sebastian Schwindt, Mona Jafarnejad Chaghooshi, Anita Hélène Roth

Sediment detention basins are implemented on mountain rivers to trap solid material that may aggravate the flooding of downstream settlements. However, retention structures built in the past may unnecessarily retain sediment during non-hazardous flood even ...

2020

Surface roughness evolution in adhesive wear processes

Enrico Milanese

Geological faults movements generating earthquakes, a vehicles' tyres rolling on the pavement, and a chalk writing on a blackboard are all different examples of frictional systems. In these systems, which are everywhere around us, two separate bodies are i ...

EPFL2020