Fundamental studies on applications of MPS method for computing snow avalanches

This paper presents some considerations on applicability of the MPS method for snow avalanches. The MPS method is a powerful tool to reproduce flow phenomena with large scale surface deformation. In order to apply this method to snow avalanches, we modified the original model to introduce a constitutive equation of Bingham fluid and effects of drag force due to air. The modified model was applied to some simple cases and evaluated the model performances through comparisons with experimental results. Then, the modified model was applied to the energy dissipating phenomena by a snow absorbing frame. The computational results showed that the present numerical model can capture the fundamental aspects of snow avalanche phenomena satisfactorily and can be a powerful tool for prediction and prevention of disasters due to snow avalanches.