Undergraduate Mathematical Sciences Seminar
Thursday, March 12, 2009, 12:30 -- 1:50pm
Numerical Modeling of Large-Scale Geophysical Flows for Hazard Mitigation
Dave George, USGS-CVO
Abstract: Gravity driven surface flows constitute a large class of geophysical hazards that are unified by similar physics. Examples of such flows include river basin flooding, coastal storm-surges, tsunamis, snow avalanches, landslides and similar debris flows. These types of flows present a similar set of challenges from a mathematical and numerical modeling perspective. Some examples of these challenges include diverse spatial scales and moving localized regions of interest in the flow, as well as mathematical challenges such as discontinuities and the moving boundaries. In order to make real-world, large scale computations tractable (such as modeling transoceanic tsunami propagation as well as coastal inundation in a single computation) we use 2D depth averaged equations and adaptive mesh refinement. I will show some simulations using the methods and software that we have developed, and describe some of the potential benefits and underlying challenges of extending these methods to more general surface flows