Quick
Search: 		  
advanced search
 GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help 
Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France Don't get GSW? Talk to your librarian.
JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France; March 2007; v. 178; no. 2; p. 65-88; DOI: 10.2113/gssgfbull.178.2.65
© 2007 Societe Geologique de France
This Article
Right arrow Résumé
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by van Asch, T. W.J.
Right arrow Articles by Amitrano, D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation

Techniques, issues and advances in numerical modelling of landslide hazard

Theodore W.J. van Asch1, Jean-Philippe Malet1,2, Ludovicus P.H. van Beek1 and David Amitrano3

1 Faculty of Geosciences, UCEL, Utrecht University, Po.Box 80.115, NL-3508 TC Utrecht, Netherlands. Tel. +31 (0)30 25 32 778 –Fax. +31 (0)30 25 31 145 – E-mail: t.vanasch{at}geo.uu.nl
2 Laboratoire de Géographie Physique et de l’Environnement, (LETG-Geophen), UMR 6554 CNRS-UCBN, Esplanade de la Paix, F-14032 Caen cedex, France.
3 Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Recherche Impliquant la Géologie et la Mécanique (LIRIGM), EA 3111 UJF, Maison des Géosciences, BP 53, F-38041 Grenoble cedex 9, France.

Slope movements (e.g. landslides) are dynamic systems that are complex in time and space and closely linked to both inherited and current preparatory and triggering controls. It is not yet possible to assess in all cases conditions for failure, reactivation and rapid surges and successfully simulate their transient and multi-dimensional behaviour and development, although considerable progress has been made in isolating many of the key variables and elementary mechanisms and to include them in physically-based models for landslide hazard assessments. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to review the state-of-the-art in the understanding of landslide processes and to identify some pressing challenges for the development of our modelling capabilities in the forthcoming years for hazard assessment. This paper focuses on the special nature of slope movements and the difficulties related to simulating their complex time-dependent behaviour in mathematical, physically-based models. It analyses successively the research frontiers in the recognition of first-time failures (pre-failure and failure stages), reactivation and the catastrophic transition to rapid gravitational processes (post-failure stage). Subsequently, the paper discusses avenues to transfer local knowledge on landslide activity to landslide hazard forecasts on regional scales and ends with an outline how geomorphological investigations and supporting monitoring techniques could be applied to improve the theoretical concepts and the modelling performance of physically-based landslide models at different spatial and temporal scales.

Key Words: Landslide • Hazard assessment • Modelling • Pre-failure • Failure • Post-failure • Research directions






JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2009 by Societe Geologique de France