Research Is a Step Toward Improved Modeling of Threats to Transportation Infrastructure

Posted: May 28, 2025

Research at Colorado State University is a step toward improving models for simulating and representing the threats of natural hazards such as floods, landslides, and debris flows on transportation infrastructure. Researchers are attempting to tie an approach called the material point method (MPM) with physical models of natural hazards to directly track the forces being applied to transportation infrastructure during these events. While the use of MPM for this purpose is still in its infancy, the research results will provide more visibility to this approach. Additionally, the method’s numerical behavior is still not well understood, and the work will help to buttress physically meaningful results with more rigorous numerical comparisons.

Paul Heyliger, Ph.D.
Colorado State University

Seamless Comparative Modeling of Natural Hazards Using the Material Point Method
MPC-24-568