AN APPROACH TO THE PHYSICS AND THE MODELING OF SUBMARINE FLOWSLIDES

Submarine flowslides are assumed to separate into a dense flow close to the bed and a turbidity current above. This article concentrates on the flow of the dense part, which is considered to behave as a granular material in which viscoplastic behavior is predominant. The flow is simulated by a two-dimensional numerical model, which is a finite-difference program based on the constitutive equations set up for the granular material. The model was first developed for snow avalanches, but calculations indicate that the model predicts the flow of submarine flowslides fairly well. To improve the model, the upper boundary conditions and the flow in the macroviscous regime have to be incorporated.