Investigating the release and flow of snow avalanches at the slope-scale using a unified model based on the material point method

Abstract

Snow slab avalanches start with a failure in a weak snow layer buried below a cohesive snow slab. After failure, the very porous character of the weak layer leads to its volumetric collapse and thus closing of crack faces due to the weight of the overlaying slab. This complex process, generally referred to as anticrack, explains why avalanches that release on steep slopes can be triggered from flat terrain. On the basis of a new elastoplastic model for porous cohesive materials and the Material Point Method, we investigate the dynamics of mixed-mode anticracks, the subsequent detachment of the slab and the flow of the avalanche. In particular, we performed two and three dimensional slope scale simulations of both the release and flow of slab avalanches triggered either directly or remotely. We describe the fracture and flow dynamics on a realistic topography and focus on the volumetric plastic strain, stress invariants, propagation speed and flow velocity. Our simulations reproduce typical observations of en-echelon fractures and the propagation speed reached up to three times that measured in field experiments. In addition, slab fracture always started from the top in the Propagation Saw Test while it systematically initiated at the interface with the weak layer at the crown of slope-scale simulations in agreement with limited field observations. During the avalanche flow, snow granulation, erosion and deposition processes were naturally simulated and do not need additional implementations. Our unified model represents a significant step forward as it allows simulating the entire avalanche process, from failure initiation to crack propagation and to solid-fluid phase transitions, which is of paramount importance to forecast and mitigate snow avalanches.