Saint Venant’s equations for dense-snow avalanche modelling

The growing concern about natural hazards, such as snow avalanches, has led to the development of ad hoc numerical models as a support tool for their analysis and evaluation. Existing models for avalanche simulation are based on the conservation of mass and the momentum, which are similar equations to the Saint Venant equations for water with differences only in terms of friction (rheological model). This document shows the possibilities of these equations to simulate dense-slab avalanches and the numerical treatment carried out in Iber. A new methodology has been used to balance the source term and the flow vector to avoid spurious oscillations and unreal movements, modifying the bottom slope based on the fluid parameters and thus stop its movement. The tool has been tested in two case studies to analyse the behaviour of the fluid depending on the parameters of the rheological model.