Evaluation of impacts of lahars on structures using DEM numerical modeling

Presented by :
Rime Chehade
PhD student,
Institut Pascal
Clermont-Ferrand University

Rime Chehade is currently in the 3^rd year of her PhD thesis at Institut Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand (France), in collaboration with Itasca Consultants and with The Magmas and Volcanoes Laboratory (LMV).

Lahars represent natural phenomena that can generate severe damage in densely populated urban areas. The evaluation of pressures generated by these mass flows on constructions (buildings, infrastructure…) is crucial for civil protection and assessment of the structures’ vulnerability. The existing tools developed to model the spread of flows at large scale in densely populated urban areas remain inaccurate in the estimation of mechanical efforts.

Rime Chehade is currently developing a discrete numerical model (PFC3D) for evaluating debris flow impact pressures at the local scale of one structure.