A hybrid MPM-CFD model for simulating earthquake-induced submarine landslides

Abstract

The purpose of this abstract is to describe a coupled CFD-MPM model that combines soil mechanics (saturated sediments) with fluid mechanics (seawater or air) as well as solid mechanics (structures) to consider interactions between soil, fluid, and structures. With this formulation, the Material Point Method, which models large deformations in porous media and structures in conjunction with the Implicit Continuous-fluid Eulerian Method, which models complex fluid flows, is combined to model large deformations in porous media and structures. The model has been validated through various benchmarks and then it is used to simulate submarine landslides due to earthquakes. It is shown that this model captures the complicated interactions between saturated sediment, seawater, and offshore structures. This allows us to estimate the impact of potential submarine landslides on offshore structures using the model.