Mount ontake landslide simulation by the cellular automata model SCIDDICA-3

Cellular Automata (CA), a paradigm of parallel computing, represent an alte rnative to differential equations and are used for modelling and simulating very complex phenomena; CA models have been developed by our research grou p for the simulation of landslides. We present SCIDDICA-3, our most efficie nt model, a two-dimensional CA model together with the simulation results o f the Mount Ontake (Japan) debris avalanche which occurred in 1984. Landsli des are viewed as a dynamic system based exclusively on local interactions with discrete time and space, where space is represented by square cells, w hose specifications (states) describe physical and chemical characteristics (friction, viscosity, altitude, debris thickness, etc.) of the correspondi ng portion of space. At the time t=0, cells are in stales which describe in itial conditions; the CA evolves then changing the state of all cells simul taneously at discrete times. Input for each cell is given by the states in the adjacent cells; the outflow computation from the cells gives the evolut ion of the phenomenon. The comparison between the real and simulated event is satisfying within limits to forecast the surface covered by debris. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.