The propagation of gravity currents over complex terrain

This project will provide fundamental understanding of those environmental problems typified by rivers carrying sediment into a body of water, pyroclastic flows from volcanoes, and the spillage of toxic liquids. The project involves two stages. The first is the design of novel experiments that incorporate a key feature of real environmental flows, their propagation over complex terrain. The second is the inclusion of the results of these experiments in computer algorithms which will simulate these processes in nature. The end result will be a greatly increased capacity to predict the possible dangers of this class of environmental problems.