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Technical University of Munich

Numerical Modeling of Natural Hazards

Natural hazards such as floods, debris flows, landslides, avalanches, and rockfalls pose increasing risks to society due to climate change, urban expansion, and aging infrastructure. Understanding and predicting these complex processes requires advanced numerical models that can capture the interaction between fluids, solids, and engineered structures. This research focuses on high-fidelity numerical simulation methods for natural hazards, with a particular emphasis on the Material Point Method (MPM) and coupled multi-physics models. 

MPM is particularly well suited for natural hazard problems because it can naturally handle extremely large deformations, fragmentation, and complex material motion without mesh distortion, which are common in debris flows, landslides, avalanches, and impact events. These tools enable the simulation of complex material behavior, impact processes, and fluid-structure-soil interactions. Key topics include constitutive modeling, boundary conditions, coupling with shallow-water or fluid models, and the simulation of hazard–structure interactions such as debris flow barriers and snow nets.

By developing robust and efficient computational frameworks, this research aims to improve hazard prediction, risk assessment, and the design of protective measures.

Motivation

Extreme natural events are becoming more frequent and intense, yet many protective structures and design standards are still based on outdated assumptions about hazard magnitude and frequency. Traditional engineering models often simplify physical processes and struggle to capture complex interactions between flowing material, terrain, and infrastructure.

There is a strong need for physically accurate, computationally efficient, and predictive models that can support risk-informed design and real-time decision-making. Therefore the motivation is to bridge the gap between advanced numerical methods and practical engineering applications, enabling more reliable predictions of natural hazards and their impact on society.

Ultimately, this research contributes to safer infrastructure and improved hazard mitigation strategies in a changing climate.

Research topics

  • Numerical simulation of natural hazards
    • Floods, debris flows, landslides, avalanches, and rockfalls
    • Multi-phase flow and granular material modeling
  • Material Point Method (MPM)
    • Boundary conditions (friction, impact, material inlet/outlet)
    • Large deformation and impact modeling
    • Constitutive modeling
  • Coupled multi-physics simulations
    • Fluid–structure, soil-structure and fluid–soil interaction
    • Sediment transport and debris flow modeling
    • Interaction of granular flows with protective structures (e.g., nets, dams, barriers)
    • MPM–Shallow Water Coupling

Projects

Contact Person

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Collaborators

Publications

2025

  • A. Katili, V. Singer, R. Wüchner, A. Larese: MPM Simulation of Impact Forces of Landslides and Debris Flows on Protective Structures. IX International Conference on Particle-based Methods, 2025 more…
  • Singer, Veronika; Larese, Antonia; Kai-Uwe Bletzinger; Wüchner, Roland: Partitioned MPM-FEM Coupling Strategy to Simulate Granular Mass Flows Impacting Flexible Protective Structures. Coupled Problems 2025, 2025 more…

2024

  • A. Katili, V. Singer, M. Fois, K. Bletzinger, A. Larese: Multiscale Approach for the Simulation of Natural Hazards on Structures. 9th European Congress on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences and Engineering, 2024 more…
  • Fois, M.; de Falco, C.; Katili, A.; Larese, A.: Landslide run-out simulations with depth-averaged models and integration with 3D impact analysis using the Material Point Method. 16th World Congress on Computational Mechanics and 4th Pan American Congress on Computational Mechanics, CIMNE, 2024 more… Full text ( DOI )

2023

  • Singer, Veronika; Larese, Antonia; Wüchner, Roland; Kai-Uwe Bletzinger: Partitioned MPM-FEM Coupling Approach for Advanced Numerical Simulation of Mass-Movement Hazards Impacting Flexible Protective Structures. X International Conference on Computational Methods for Coupled Problems in Science and Engineering, 2023 more… Full text ( DOI )
  • Singer, Veronika; Sautter, Klaus B.; Wüchner, Roland; Larese, Antonia; Bletzinger, Kai-Uwe: Partitioned Coupling Approaches for the Simulation of Natural Hazards Impacting Protective Structures. VIII International Conference on Particle-Based Methods (Particles2023), 2023 more… Full text ( DOI )
  • Singer, Veronika; Teschemacher, Tobias; Larese, Antonia; Wüchner, Roland; Bletzinger, Kai-Uwe: Lagrange multiplier imposition of non-conforming essential boundary conditions in implicit material point method. Computational Mechanics, 2023 more… Full text ( DOI )

2022

  • Singer, Veronika; Sautter, Klaus Bernd; Larese, Antonia; Wüchner, Roland; Bletzinger, Kai-Uwe: A partitioned material point method and discrete element method coupling scheme. Advanced Modeling and Simulation in Engineering Sciences 9 (1), 2022 more… Full text ( DOI )

2021

  • Chandra, Bodhinanda; Singer, Veronika; Teschemacher, Tobias; Wüchner, Roland; Larese, Antonia: Nonconforming Dirichlet boundary conditions in implicit material point method by means of penalty augmentation. Acta Geotechnica, 2021 more… Full text ( DOI )
  • Singer, Veronika; Chandra Bodhinanda; Larese, Antonia; Wüchner, Roland: A Staggered Material Point Method and Finite Element Method Coupling Scheme Using Gauss Seidel Communication Pattern. 9th edition of the International Conference on Computational Methods for Coupled Problems in Science and Engineering, 2021 COUPLED PROBLEMS 2021 more… Full text ( DOI )
  • Singer, Veronika; Sautter, Klaus B.; Wüchner, Roland; Larese, Antonia; Bletzinger, Kai-Uwe: A Partitioned MPM and DEM Coupling Scheme for the Simulation of Natural Hazards. VII International Conference on Particle-Based Methods , 2021 more…
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