TITAN 2D

TITAN2D is a free software application developed by the Geophysical Mass Flow Group at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo. TITAN2D was developed for the purpose of simulating granular flows (primarily geological mass flows such as debris avalanches and landslides) over digital elevation models of natural terrain. TITAN2D combines numerical simulations of a flow with digital elevation data of natural terrain supported through a Geographical Information System (GIS) interface such as GRASS.

The TITAN2D program is based upon a depth-averaged model for an incompressible Coulomb continuum, a “shallow-water” granular flow. The conservation equations for mass and momentum are solved with a Coulomb-type friction term for the interactions between the grains of the media and between the granular material and the basal surface. The resulting hyperbolic system of equations is solved using a parallel, adaptive mesh, Godunov scheme.

TITAN2D is capable of multiprocessor runs. The Message Passing Interface [(MPI)] Application Programming Interface [(API)] allows for parallel computing on multiple processors, which effectively increases computational power, decreases computing time, and allows for the use of large data sets.

Adaptive mesh refinement allows for the concentration of computing power on regions of special interest. Mesh refinement captures the complex flow features at the leading edge of the flow, as well as locations where the topography changes rapidly. Mesh unrefinement is applied where solution values are relatively constant or small to further improve computational efficiency.

References

• Titan2D User Guide, Release 2.0.0, 2007.07.09; Geophysical Mass Flow Group, University at Buffalo (http://www.gmfg.buffalo.edu)
• A.K. Patra, A.C. Bauer, C.C. Nichita, E.B. Pitman, M.F. Sheridan, M. Bursik, B. Rupp, A. Webber, A. Stinton, L. Namikawa, and C. Renschler, Parallel Adaptive Numerical Simulation of Dry Avalanches Over Natural Terrain, Journal of Volcanology and Geophysical Research, 139 (2005) 1-21
• E.B. Pitman, C.C. Nichita, A.K. Patra, A.C. Bauer, M.F. Sheridan, and M. Bursik, Computing Granular Avalanches and Landslides, Physics of Fluids, Vol. 15, Number 12 (December 2003)

External links

• Geophysical Mass Flow Group