Nicolàs Ramírez

 

Équipe DSHE

 

Collapse of frozen wet granular column due to thawing

 

Permafrost degradation leads to ground instabilities driven by thaw-induced loss of cohesion. This mechanical destabilization is one of the processes responsible for triggering landslides and slope failures in cold-region environments. In this seminar, I present recent progress on the stability of frozen wet granular columns, used as a laboratory model for such processes.

By systematically varying the column geometry, bead size, and water content, we identify the stability transition by analyzing the relationship between initial height and radius. Three regimes emerge: two constant regimes, in which the maximum stable height remains independent of the radius (one at small radii and another at large radii), and a linear regime at intermediate radii. These results reveal how stability in cohesive granular systems depends on geometry, bead size, and water content.