Computational Modeling of Snow Avalanche Dynamics: A Case Study of Teling Nala near Atal Tunnel
摘要
A computational study of snow avalanche dynamics is presented in this work for the Teling Nala gully near Atal Tunnel in Indian Himalayas, which is prone to avalanche incidents in winter and spring. The depth-averaged model with the Mohr–Coulomb plastic rheology was solved using the finite-volume method. The open-source TITAN2D code with adaptive mesh refinement was used for tractable numerical simulations for the large region. The impact of internal friction angle, bed friction angle, and the initial volume of the avalanche pile on the dynamics of avalanche flow is studied. The results indicate that while the internal friction angle has minimal influence on avalanche behavior, the bed friction angle has a significant effect on both avalanche velocity and runout distance. The initial volume of the avalanche pile has a minor effect on the dynamics. The study also presents a worst-case scenario where an avalanche initiates simultaneously from two starting zones. This research contributes to the present understanding of avalanche behavior at the Teling Nala site which can be utilized for designing avalanche defense structures and conducting a hazard analysis of the region. It is concluded that computational approach using depth-averaged modeling and adaptive mesh refinement provides a tractable method for analyzing avalanche dynamics at key sites such as the one chosen in this work.