Monash University‘s civil engineers have developed GeoXPM, a software that can predict geo-disasters such as landslides, avalanches, and mine tailings dam failures, as well as their effects on geo-structures and design improvements to avert fatalities.
According to Monash University, despite breakthroughs in detection and early warning systems, particularly satellite-based monitoring, geo-disasters are predicted to become more widespread as climate change increases the frequency of extreme weather events, excessive rainfall, droughts, and forest fires.
GeoXPM is the world’s first, fully functional continuum particle-based software to model and predicts the onset and post-failure responses of geomaterials and geo-structures at various scales, including rock, soil, water, and complex mixes of these.
The Monash team, led by Associate Professor Ha Bui of the Department of Civil Engineering, has worked with national and international experts to create computing methods for predicting catastrophic geotechnical hazards.
“Modelling worst-case scenarios and understanding them in detail allows us to design counter-measures that can minimise loss of life and damage,” ARC Future Fellow and founder of the Monash Computational Geomechanics (MCG) laboratory Associate Professor Bui said.
The software can inform the design of countermeasures like buffers and secondary dams that can redirect moving geomaterials away from populated areas and critical infrastructure in the event of a disaster.
“GeoXPM can predict behaviour and failure under complex geo-environmental conditions, including the flow of granular materials with complex behaviour of soil-fluid mixtures, soil-structure interactions and even fracture and fragmentations of rock and concrete.” Associate Professor Bui stated.
Mudslides, landslides, and other debris flows have resulted in hundreds of people’s deaths each year, frequently due to storms, floods, drought, or deforestation caused by wildfires, logging, or human habitation.
Additionally, failures of tailings dams related to mining have also resulted in thousands of deaths and left resource companies responsible for billions of dollars in compensation in many regions of the world.
