Realistic visualization of debris flow type landslides through virtual reality

Abstract

Immersive media technologies, such as virtual and augmented reality, have recently enabled a more holistic way to comprehend natural hazards. In this work, we aim at visualizing the temporal and spatial evolution of a debris flow in a virtual reality environment. We develop a framework to integrate the output results obtained from a debris flow numerical model into virtual reality. To guide the framework, a real debris flow event, which happened in Hunnedalen (Norway) in 2016 and blocked a road network, is considered as a case study. The debris flow is back-calculated using a depth-averaged numerical model and the simulation results are imported into a dedicated game engine to construct a digital model of the debris flow event. The debris flow is visualized using a Head-Mounted Display. We therefore discuss a wide range of potential applications of virtual reality to manage and grasp landslide phenomena: training for rescue operations; improving decision-making; studying early warning systems, and educating communities affected by natural hazards. We finally provide a quantitative evaluation of the hazard perception for a road user. We show that the debris flow movement is perceived at variable delayed times from the triggering of the landslide, depending on the position along the road where the debris flow is observed. Evaluating the realistic perception time of the natural hazard may be fundamental to designing more effective road networks, signs, and mitigation measures.

QuickAware: A Virtual reality tool for Quick Clay Landslide Hazard Awareness

“…These coordinates and their interpolated velocities were exported into Unity using customized C# script. The details of the procedure is outlined in (Alene et al 2022a) and (Alene et al 2022b). The details of the numerical simulation and preprocessing of the simulation results were given in supplementary information, SI1(online resource).…”

“…It was provided as a DTM. A custom script based on Unity C#(C-sharp) was used to import the DTM into Unity using the method mentioned in (Alene et al 2022b). This allowed us to show the actual location and orientation of natural features of topography such as rivers and slopes.…”

Analysis of rain-induced underground debris flow disasters in mines based on logistic regression models

“…Both domestic and international scholars have divided the effective time period of antecedent rainfall into 4 days, 10 days, 15 days, and 18 days. It has been found that the correlation between the 15-day antecedent effective rainfall and landslide disasters is the highest (Alene et al 2023). Since this study focuses on underground debris flows in mines, which exhibit a delayed effect in terms of occurrence, various factors were considered.…”

Reconstruction and Visualization of Landslide Events Based on Pre- and Post-Disaster Remote Sensing Data

“…Another strand of methods combines the simple two-dimensional landslide model with the experimental test, and then constructs the three-dimensional prediction visual model. For example, researchers [19] obtained two-dimensional simulation results of a landslide area, the dip angle and influence depth based on a two-dimensional map of landslide monitoring. Other researchers [20] combined field monitoring with experimental tests and established a three-dimensional visualization model of landslide form prediction.…”