Cellular automaton for realistic modelling of landslides

A numerical model is developed for the simulation of debris flow in landslides over a complex three dimensional topography. The model is based on a lattice, in which debris can be transferred among nearest neighbors according to established empirical relationships for granular flows. The model is then validated by comparing a simulation with reported field data. Our model is in fact a realistic elaboration of simpler "sand-pile automata", which have in recent years been studied as supposedly paradigmatic of "self-organized criticality". Statistics and scaling properties of the simulation are examined, and show that the model has an intermittent behavior.