In this work we present a multilayer shallow model to approximate the Navier-Stokes equations with hydrostatic pressure and the µ(I)-rheology. The main advantages of this approximation are (i) the low cost associated with the numerical treatment of the free surface of the modelled flows, (ii) exact conservation of mass and (iii) the ability to compute 3D profiles of the velocities in the directions along and normal to the slope. The derivation of the model follows [14] and introduces a dimensional analysis based on the shallow flow hypothesis. The proposed first order multilayer model fully satisfies a dissipative energy equation. A comparison with an analytical solution with a non-constant normal profile of the downslope velocity demonstrates the accuracy of the numerical model. Finally, by comparing the numerical results with experimental data, we show that the proposed multilayer model with the µ(I)-rheology reproduces qualitatively the effect of the erodible bed on granular flow dynamics and deposits, such as the increase of runout distance with increasing thickness of the erodible bed. We show that the use of a constant friction coefficient in the multilayer model leads to the opposite behaviour. This multilayer model captures the different normal profiles of the downslope velocity during the different phases of the flow (acceleration, stopping, etc.) including the presence of static and flowing zones within the granular column.

We propose an extension of the discretization approaches for multilayer shallow water models, aimed at making them more flexible and efficient for realistic applications to coastal flows. A novel discretization approach is proposed, in which the number of vertical layers and their distribution are allowed to change in different regions of the computational domain. Furthermore, semi-implicit schemes are employed for the time discretization, leading to a significant efficiency improvement for subcritical regimes. We show that, in the typical regimes in which the application of multilayer shallow water models is justified, the resulting discretization does not introduce any major spurious feature and allows again to reduce substantially the computational cost in areas with complex bathymetry. As an example of the potential of the proposed technique, an application to a sediment transport problem is presented, showing a remarkable improvement with respect to standard discretization approaches.

We present here numerical modelling of granular flows with the µ(I) rheology in confined channels. The contribution is twofold: (i) a model to approximate the Navier-Stokes equations with the µ(I) rheology through an asymptotic analysis. Under the hypothesis of a one-dimensional flow, this model takes into account side walls friction; (ii) a multilayer discretization following Fernández-Nieto et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 798, 2016, pp. 643-681). In this new numerical scheme, we propose an appropriate treatment of the rheological terms through a hydrostatic reconstruction which allows this scheme to be well-balanced and therefore to deal with dry areas. Based on academic tests, we first evaluate the influence of the width of the channel on the normal profiles of the downslope velocity thanks to the multilayer approach that is intrinsically able to describe changes from Bagnold to S-shaped (and vice versa) velocity profiles. We also check the well balance property of the proposed numerical scheme. We show that approximating side walls friction using single-layer models may lead to strong errors. Secondly, we compare the numerical results with experimental data on granular collapses. We show that the proposed scheme allows us to qualitatively reproduce the deposit in the case of a rigid bed (i. e. dry area) and that the error made by replacing the dry area by a small layer of material may be large if this layer is not thin enough. The proposed model is also able to reproduce the time evolution of the free surface and of the flow/no-flow interface. In addition, it reproduces the effect of erosion for granular flows over initially static material lying on the bed. This is possible when using a variable friction coefficient µ(I) but not with a constant friction coefficient.

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