Preface.-
1. Introduction and problems.-
1.1 Landslides: an overview.-
1.1.1. What is a landslide?.-
1.1.2. Landslides as a geological hazard.-
1.1.3. Landslides as a geomorphic driving force.-
1.1.4. Physical aspects of landslides.-
1.2. Types of landslides.-
1.2.1. Geometrical characteristics of a landslide.-
1.2.2. Description of the seven types of movements.-
1.3. A physical classification of Gravity Mass Flows.-
2. Friction, cohesion, and slope stability.-
2.1. Friction and Cohesion.-
2.1.1. Normal and shear stresses.-
2.1.2. Friction.-
2.1.3. Cohesion.-
2.2. Slope Stability
2.2.1. A few words on slope stability.-
2.2.2. An example: layered slope.
2.2.3. A few basics concepts of soil mechanics and an application to slumps.-
2.2.4. Other factors contributing to instability.-
3. Introduction to fluid mechanics.-
3.1. Introduction.-
3.1.1. What is a fluid?.-
3.2.Fluid static.-
3.3. Simple treatment of some topics in fluid dynamics.-
3.3.1. Fluid flow (key concept: velocity field, streamlines, streamtubes).-
3.3.2. Fluid flow in a pipe with a constriction (key concepts: continuity, incompressibility).-
3.3.3. Lift force on a half-cylinder (key concept: energy conservation and the Bernoulli equation).-
3.3.4. Flow of a plate on a viscous fluid (key concepts: no-slip condition, viscosity, Newtonian fluids).-
3.3.5. Fluid pattern around a cylinder (key concepts: Reynolds number, turbulence).-
3.4. Microscopic model of a fluid and mass conservation.-
3.4.1. The pressure in a gas is due to the impact of molecules.-
3.4.2. Viscosity.-
3.5. Conservation of mass: the continuity equation.-
3.5.1. Flux.-
3.5.2. Continuity equation in Cartesian coordinates.-
3.6. A more rigorous approach to Fluid Mechanics: momentum and Navier-Stokes equation.-
3.6.1. Lagrangian and Eulerian viewpoints.-
3.6.2. Momentum equation.-
3.6.3. Analysis of the forces.-
3.6.4. Adding up the rheological properties: the Navier-Stokes equation.-
3.7. Some applications.-
3.7.1. Dimensionless numbers in fluid dynamics.-
3.7.2. Application to open flow of infinite width channel.-
4. Non-Newtonian fluids, mudflows, and debris flows: a rheological approach.-
4.1. Momentum equations, rheology, and fluid flow.-
4.2. Dirty water: the rheology of dilute suspensions.-
4.3. Very dirty water: rheology of clay slurries and muds.-
4.3.1. Clay mixtures.-
4.3.2. Interaction between clay particles.-
4.3.2. Rheology of clay mixtures and other fluids.-
4.3.4. Bingham and Herschel Bulkley.-
4.3.5. Shear strength as a function of the solid concentration.-
4.3.6. Relationship between soil properties and fluid dynamics properties.-
4.4. Behavior of a mudflow described by Bingham rheology: one-dimensional system.-
4.5. Flow of a Bingham fluid in a channel.-
4.6. Rheological flows: general properties.-
4.6.1. Introduction.-
4.6.2. Geological Materials of rheological flows.-
4.6.3. Structure of a debris flow chute and deposit.-
4.6.4. Examples of rheological flows.-
4.7. Debris flows: dynamics.-
4.7.1. Velocity.-
4.7.2. Dynamical description of a debris flow.-
4.7.3. Impact force of a debris flow against a barrier.-
4.7.4. Quasi-periodicity.-
4.7.5. Theoretical and semiempirical formulas to predict the velocity.-
5. A short introduction to the physics of granular media.-
5.1 Introduction to granular materials.-
5.1.1. Solid mechanics: Hooke's law, Poisson coefficients, elasticity.-
5.1.2. Granular media in the Earth Sciences. Angle of repose.-
5.1.3. Force between grains.-
5.2. Static of granular materials.-
5.2.1. Pressures inside a container filled with granular material.-
5.2.2. Force chains.-
5.3. Grain Collisions.-
5.3.1. Grain-wall collisions.-
5.3.2. Grain-grain collisions.-
5.4. Dynamics of granular materials; avalanching.-
5.4.1. General.-
5.4.2. Dynamics of granular materials at high shear rate: granular gases and granular temperature.-
5.4.3. Haff's equation.-
5.4.4. Fluid dynamical model of a gra