Project

Hydromechanical phenomena at the pore scale, such as the development of elevated water pressure, and how they are coupled to the soil’s mesostructure, are key to the initiation and runout of submarine landslides. The fact that different regimes, e.g., quasi-static or fast-flowing, of the coupled particle-fluid systems interplay with the material’s particle- and meso-scale structures makes the prediction of submarine granular flows, from initiation to run-out, a scientific as well as a practical challenge.

Fully-resolved simulations of particle-fluid systems can be used to study the macroscopic behaviour of saturated granular materials. The effects of particle shapes and the mesostructure on the hydrodynamic coupling to the pore fluid can all be investigated with the coupled Lattice Boltzmann-Discrete Element Method.

We aim to develop a hydro-micromechanical model of realistic granular soils using fully-resolved direct numerical simulation techniques, focusing on representative volume elements (RVEs). The goal is to understand the role of grain morphology and mesostructure in the avalanching and resting processes during submarine landslides, at various overpressure conditions.