A coupled PFEM-DEM formulation for the Simulation of Landslides Impacting Water
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In this work, we couple two Lagrangian methods for the simulation of fluid-granular media in highly deforming domains. For the fluid phase, the Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM) has shown great capabilities for simulating complex situations involving strong domain deformations. In particular, free surface flows are straightforwardly simulated with this method, thanks to its inherent capability to track strong changes in the domain geometry. For the granular phase, the Discrete Element Method (DEM) is a great choice for simulating fine-scale dynamics of grains. A coupling between these two methods appears quite naturally in the form of a CFD-DEM method with deforming domains, allowing to tackle many complex applications. This study focuses on landslide-generated surface waves. In the past, such events have caused great damage and human casualties. The 1958 Lituya Bay landslide and tsunami, which took place in Alaska, USA, is a tragic example. Our coupled PFEM-DEM approach is particularly well-suited to simulate the impact of landslides on water reservoirs, making it an adequate tool to better understand these phenomena. We present the two methods, show the coupling strategy, and illustrate its capabilities with a few landslide simulations.