ABSTRACT
Landslide run outs are modelled as the movements of single rock blocks over a surface or as the movement of a viscous mass over a surface. In reality a mass of discrete, interacting rock blocks is moving downslope. PFC models the movement and interaction of circular or spherical particles and wall elements using the laws of motion and of force-displacement. In the course of the calculation the contacts between particles and particles or particles and walls are detected automatically. The particles may be bonded together at their contact points, and the bondage can break due to an impact. PFC applies a local, non-viscous damping proportional to acceleration to the movement of every single particle as a default. PFC determines the motion of each single particle by the resultant force and moment vectors acting upon it, and describes it in terms of the translational motion of a point in the particle and the rotational motion of the particle.
