Modeling gravity hazards from rockfalls to landslides / Моделирование гравитационных опасностей от камнепадов до оползней

Molecular dynamics is recognized as a powerful method in modern computational physics. This method is essentially based on a factual observation: the apparent strong complexity and extreme variety of natural phenomena are not due to the intrinsic complexity of the physical laws but due to the very large number of basic elements in interaction through, in fact, simple laws. This is particularly true for granular materials in which a single intergranular friction coefficient between rigid grains is enough to simulate, at a macroscopic scale, the very intricate behavior of sand with a Mohr–Coulomb plasticity criterion, a dilatant behavior under shearing, non-associate plastic strains, etc. and, in fine, an incrementally nonlinear constitutive relation. Passing in a natural way from the grain scale to the sample scale, the discrete element method (DEM) is able to precisely bridge the gap between micro and macro-scales in a very realistic way, as it is today verified in many mechanics labs. <...>