Avalanches and rocket engines

Using lasers, EPFL scientists are dissecting the movements of fluids. The goal of the exercise: to obtain a better understanding of the internal dynamics of complex phenomena such as avalanches and torrential floods. Although these flows are clearly important for natural hazards experts, other unexpected applications can also benefit. Mountainous areas like Switzerland are particularly prone to risks like avalanches and torrential floods. Officials responsible for public safety in these regions would love to have numerical models that would allow them to identify danger zones as specifically as possible. But before creating these models, we need to understand precisely what is going on in these phenomena. This is the job being tackled by a team from EPFL's Environmenal Hydraulics Laboratory, led by Professor Christophe Ancey, with the help of funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation .