ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates the results of a collaboration born among the authors, in the framework of the INTERREG IIIA ‘‘Rockslidetec’’ project, with the aim of studying rock avalanche propagation by means of physical and numerical modelling. The EPFL rock mechanics laboratory has carried out an experimental campaign. The INTERREG IIIA ‘‘Rockslidetec’’ project, among Italian, French and Swiss partners, has born to partly fill up these lacunas: its main goal is to develop methodological devices to define areas that could be affected by rock avalanche phenomena. Tests mainly consist in simulating a rock avalanche releasing an unconstrained flow of granular material on an inclined panel. In Cemagref model the domain is restricted to rock avalanches made of dry and cohesion-less grains. The objective of EPAN3D is to simulate a rock mass of large volume, its propagation along a mountain slope then the accumulation and the spreading out in the valley.
