Expositor:    Prof. Roy Leipnik

                     University of California, Santa Bárbara                   

Tema:   "The Physics of Landslides in and around Santiago"

               
Lugar:  Auditorio Prof. Ninoslav Bralic

Fecha: Viernes 11 de Junio de 2004, 3:00  PM.

Resumen: Three types of landslides are observed in mountainous terrain. The first type is dry, and has four subtypes according to the particle size (sand, gravel, rocks, and boulders). These are driven by earthquakes and smaller vibrations, such as passing trucks, noise, digging, explosions. The second type is wet, and has four subtypes according to viscosity and particle size (silt, loam, thin mud, thick mud). The third type called debris flows, consists of both dry and wet components. The second and third types are driven by rain or snow melt, usually by a brief intense rain of 2-4 cm per hour. The failure of dams is another cause of wet landslides of the silt (sediment) subtype. Computer studies of dry (gravel) landslides are now common, as are computer studies of wet landslides. The dry slides are modeled by capillary mechanics (surface contact). The wet slides are modeled by visco-elastic and visco-plastic theory using several layers and boundary slip transmission. Some prevention possibilities, such as walls, nets, flow division and sandwells are mentioned.