Christophe Ancey
Associate Professor
christophe.ancey@epfl.ch +41 21 693 32 87 http://lhe.epfl.ch
EPFL ENAC IIC LHE
GC A1 401 (Bâtiment GC)
Station 18
1015 Lausanne
+41 21 693 32 87
+41 21 693 23 75
Office:
GC A1 401
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Web site: Web site: https://lhe.epfl.ch/
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Fields of expertise
fluid dynamics
rheology
hydraulics
physics of particle transport
steep slope flows (avalanches, floods)
Risk analysis
Mission
The LHE is a laboratory of environmental fluid mechanics whose research strives toward a better understanding of physical processes in the environment, with particular emphasis on the problems encountered in hydraulics and the study of geophysical flows. The field of research covered within Ancey's team includes the following topics: - Rheology & fluid dynamics of geophysical flow and the resulting hazards, with the objective of modeling natural hazards induced by water such as mudflows and avalanches. - Physics of bed load transport, aiming at better management of sediments in waterways Our major area of interest is the rheology of particle suspensions, mainly the natural suspensions involved in geophysical flows such as avalanches, mudflows, and stream transport of materials. Three major research orientations can be designated 1° Rheology of concentrated suspensions : we are particularly interested in the laws of very concentrated suspension behavior such as granular suspensions, investigating both the problem of determining adapted rheological laws and modeling free surface gravity flows. 2° The inverse problem :very often in rheology, stresses and strains cannot be measured directly; measures must first be taken on the macroscopic scale to then deduce the behavior on the microscopic level. This type of problem is most often within the domain of inverse problems. Our research aims most particularly to propose inverse determination methods either to adjust model coefficients or to deduce the mechanical behavior. 3° Particle entrainment in dilute turbulent suspensions: a major problem in geophysical flows is solid particle entrainment. We are mainly interested in understanding the erosion of a rough particle bed and modeling the phenomenon (Exner equation)Biography
Christophe Ancey has both a PhD and an engineering degree granted by the Ecole Centrale de Paris and the Grenoble National Polytechnic Institute. Trained as a hydraulics engineer, he did his doctoral work under the supervision of Pierre Evesque from 1994 to 1997 on rheology of granular flows in simple shearing. He was recruited in 1998 as a researcher in rheology at the Cemagref as part of the Erosion Protection team directed by Jean-Pierre Feuvrier, which has since become the laboratoire "Storm Erosion, Snow and Avalanche Laboratory". Parallel to this research activity, with Claude Charlier He set up a consulting firm for engineering contracting called Toraval (www.toraval.fr), which has become the major player in the avalanche field in France. Since 2004, He is a fluid-mechanics professor at EPFL and he is the director of the Environmental Hydraulics Laboratory. He is associate editor of Water Resources Research, one of the leading journal in the field.Publications
Infoscience publications
2016 - Publications
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Asymmetric breaking size-segregation waves in dense granular free-surface flows
Journal Of Fluid Mechanics. 2016. DOI : 10.1017/jfm.2016.170.2016 - Workshops, conferences
The nature and role of advection in advection-diffusion equations used for modelling bed load transport
EGU General Assembly 2016, Vienna, Austria, April 17-22, 2016.2015 - Publications
An Underlying Asymmetry within Particle-size Segregation
Physical Review Letters. 2015. DOI : 10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.238001.-
Stochastic-deterministic modeling of bed load transport in shallow water flow over erodible slope: linear stability analysis and numerical simulation
Advances in Water Resources. 2015. DOI : 10.1016/j.advwatres.2015.05.016.-
Stochastic interpretation of the advection diffusion equation and its relevance to bed load transport
Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface. 2015. DOI : 10.1002/2014JF003421.-
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Sediment diffusion in deterministic non-equilibrium bed load transport simulations
Applied Mathematical Modelling. 2015.2015 - Workshops, conferences
Refractive index matched suspensions as a tool for investigating entrainment by avalanches and debris flows
European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2015, Vienna, Austria, April 12-17, 2015.-
Fluid dynamics of basal entrainment by geophysical gravity-driven flows
Lausanne, EPFL, 2015. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-6765.A viscoplastic lubrication model for entrainment by avalanches and debris flows, and comparison with experiments
European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2015, Vienna, Austria, April 12-17, 2015.-
Morphodynamic instability in a novel Saint-Venant-Exner model for bedload transport
Advances in Numerical Modelling of Hydrodynamics workshop, Sheffield, UK, March 24-25.-
Asymmetric Particle Behavior during Size Segregation
Particles 2015, Barcelona, ES, September 28-30, 2015.2014 - Publications
A microstructural approach to bed load transport: mean behaviour and fluctuations of particle transport rates
Journal Of Fluid Mechanics. 2014. DOI : 10.1017/jfm.2014.74.-
Bed load transport over a broad range of timescales: Determination of three regimes of fluctuations
Journal Of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface. 2014. DOI : 10.1002/2014Jf003308.-
Spatial correlations in bed load transport: Evidence, importance, and modeling
Journal Of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface. 2014. DOI : 10.1002/2013Jf003003.-
Visualization of the internal flow properties and the material exchange interface in an entraining viscous Newtonian gravity current
Environmental Fluid Mechanics. 2014. DOI : 10.1007/s10652-013-9297-0.-
Sediment transport in mountain rivers
Ercoftac Bulletin. 2014.-
Un port et des cabanes, à la découverte du lac Baïkal (Sibérie)
2017Spatial correlations in bed load transport: Evidence, importance, and modeling
Journal Of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface. 2014. DOI : 10.1002/2013Jf003003.Reply to Comment on "Effect of Dissolved Organic Matter on the Transformation of Contaminants Induced by Excited Triplet States and the Hydroxyl Radical"
Environmental Science & Technology. 2011. DOI : 10.1021/es202439z.Insertion du littoral dans la maille urbaine (Porto).
2001-
How to verify the precision of density-functional-theory implementations via reproducible and universal workflows
Nature Reviews Physics. 2023-11-14. DOI : 10.1038/s42254-023-00655-3.Automated mixing of maximally localized Wannier functions into target manifolds
Npj Computational Materials. 2023-10-31. DOI : 10.1038/s41524-023-01147-9.Les défis de l'expertise moderne
TDC, Canaopé Editions, France. 2014.-
Pourquoi des modèles de calcul d’avalanche plus complexes n’amènent pas à de meilleurs résultats ?
Neige et Avalanches (Anena). 2014.2014 - Workshops, conferences
Tracking bed load particles in a steep flume: Methods and results.
2014. River Flow 2014, Lausanne, CH, September 3-5. p. 138.-
Avalanche of fluid in the laboratory: the dam-break problem revisited.
Simulation of avalanches : modelling and numerics, Sevilla, Spain, March 11-14.-
Asymmetry in Size-Segregation Rates.
Gordon Research Conference: Granular & Granular-Fluid Flow, Easton, USA, July 20-25.-
Entraining avalanches on slopes: results from experiments using PIV on viscoplastic gravity currents.
EGU General Assembly 2014, Vienna, AU, April 27 - May 2.-
A model for entrainment in avalanches and debris flows based on PIV measurements of viscous gravity currents.
EGU General Assembly 2014, Vienna, AU, April 27 - May 2.-
Fluctuations of particle transport rates in graved-bed rivers or the quest for equilibrium?
3rd IAHR Europe Congress, Porto, PT, April, 14-16.-
Analysis of sediment transport from recorded signals of sediments in a gravel-bed river: role of sediment availability
2014. IAEG XII Congress, Torino, Italy, September 15-19. p. 477-482. DOI : 10.1007/978-3-319-09054-2_98.-
Breaking Size-Segregation Waves in Granular Avalanches
Annual European Rheology Conference 2014, Karsruhe, D, April 8 - 11.2013 - Publications
The dam-break problem for concentrated suspensions of neutrally buoyant particles
Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 2013. DOI : 10.1017/jfm.2013.154.-
Granular suspension avalanches. I. Macro-viscous behavior
Physics of Fluids. 2013. DOI : 10.1063/1.4793719.-
Granular suspension avalanches. II. Plastic regime
Physics of Fluids. 2013. DOI : 10.1063/1.4793720.-
Statistics of bedload transport over steep slopes: Separation of time scales and collective motion
Geophysical Research Letters. 2013. DOI : 10.1029/2012GL054280.2013 - Workshops, conferences
Bedload transport powered by daily floods: unsteadiness and stochasticity.
European Geosciences Union General Assembly EGU, Vienna, Austria, April 7-12.-
Effect of available entrainable material on a viscous gravity current including run-out characteristics and internal flow properties.
European Geosciences Union General Assembly EGU, Vienna, Austria, April 7-12.-
Segregation in a quasi-stationary avalanche on an inclined conveyor-belt.
European Geosciences Union General Assembly EGU, Vienna, Austria, April 7-12.-
Why don't avalanche-dynamics models of higher complexity necessarily lead to better predictions?
International Snow Science Workshop ISSW 2013, Grenoble, France, October 7-11.-
Rhéologie des suspensions turbulentes (diluées et concentrées).
GdR Transport Solide Naturel, Mini école d'été, Rennes, France, September 9-11.-
Bedform migration in steep channels: from local avalanches to large scale changes.
AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, USA, December 9-13.-
Approximate solution of the probability density function of bedload transport rate over multiple time scales.
AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, USA, December 9-13.-
RAS and LES Simulation of the supercritical flow over the waving bed.
AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, USA, December 9-13.-
Channel meta-stability: effects on bedload transport.
The 8th Symposium on River, coastal and Estuarine Morphodynamics RCEM, Santander, Spain, June 9-13.-
From standing to breaking antidunes, a Hopf bifurcation.
Symposium on River, coastal and Estuarine Morphodynamics RCEM, Santander, Spain, June 9-13.-
Segregation in a quasi ‐ stationary avalanche on an inclined conveyor ‐ belt.
2nd IMA conference on dense granular flows, Cambridge, UK, July 1-4.-
From bedform evolution to channel slope fluctuations in steep-slope streams.
8th IAG International Conference on Geomorphology, Paris, France, August 27-31, 2013.2012 - Publications
Are there "dragon-kings" events (i.e. genuine outliers) among extreme avalanches?
European Physical Journal-Special Topics. 2012. DOI : 10.1140/epjst/e2012-01565-7.-
Internal dynamics of Newtonian and viscoplastic fluid avalanches down a sloping bed
Physics Of Fluids. 2012. DOI : 10.1063/1.4718018.-
Viscoplastic dambreak waves: review of simple computational approaches and comparison with experiments
Advances in Water Resources. 2012. DOI : 10.1016/j.advwatres.2012.03.015.-
Gravity flow on steep slope
Buoyancy-Driven Flows; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012. p. 372-432.-
Exact solutions of ideal dam break flood for arbitrary cross-section.
European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2012, Vienna, Austria, 22 – 27 April 2012.2012 - Workshops, conferences
Characterization of bedload transport in steep-slope streams.
European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2012, Vienna, Austria, 22 – 27 April 2012.-
Laboratory-scale dam-break study of gravity currents with basal entrainment: PIV measurements of a viscous newtonian fluid over a horizontal bed of the same fluid.
Fall Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, 3-7, December.-
Multi-scale fluctuations of bed load transport rate over steep slope.
Fall Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, December 3-7, 2012.-
Time scale analysis of bedload discharge: from intermittency to white noise.
8th IAG International Conference on Geomorphology, Paris, France, August 27-31.-
From local slope fluctuations to channel evolution in steep-slope streams.
8th IAG International Conference on Geomorphology, Paris, France, August 27-31.-
Bedload transport over steep slopes: time scales and collective motion.
Saladyn 2012, Paris, France, November 5-7.2011
Multi-component particle size segregation in shallow granular avalanches
Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 2011. DOI : 10.1017/jfm.2011.138.-
Refractive-index and density matching in concentrated particle suspensions: a review
Experiments in Fluids. 2011. DOI : 10.1007/s00348-010-0996-8.-
Experimental investigation into segregating granular flows down chutes
Physics of Fluids. 2011. DOI : 10.1063/1.3536658.2010
Stochastic modeling in sediment dynamics: Exner equation for planar bed incipient bed load transport conditions
Journal of Geophysical Research -All Series-. 2010. DOI : 10.1029/2009JF001260.-
Image processing for the study of bedload transport of two-size spherical particles in a supercritical flow
Experiments in Fluids. 2010. DOI : 10.1007/s00348-010-0856-6.2009
The dam-break problem for viscous fluids in the high-capillary-number limit
Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 2009. DOI : 10.1017/S0022112008005041.-
Segregation, recirculation and deposition of coarse particles near two-dimensional avalanche fronts
Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 2009. DOI : 10.1017/S0022112009006466.-
The dam-break problem for Herschel-Bulkley viscoplastic fluids down steep flumes
Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics. 2009. DOI : 10.1016/j.jnnfm.2008.08.008.-
Experimental investigation of the spreading of viscoplastic fluids on inclined planes
Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics. 2009. DOI : 10.1016/j.jnnfm.2008.08.007.-
Improved SPH methods for simulating free surface flows of viscous fluids
Applied Numerical Mathematics. 2009. DOI : 10.1016/j.apnum.2008.02.003.2008
Tracking the free surface of time-dependent flows: Image processing for the dam-break problem
Experiments in Fluids. 2008. DOI : 10.1007/s00348-007-0374-3.-
Entrainment and motion of coarse particles in a shallow water stream down a steep slope
Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 2008. DOI : 10.1017/S0022112007008774.-
An exact solution for ideal dam-break floods on steep slopes
Water Resources Research. 2008. DOI : 10.1029/2007WR006353.2007
Existence and features of similarity solutions for non-Boussinesq gravity currents
Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena. 2007. DOI : 10.1016/j.physd.2006.11.002.-
The Kulikovskiy-Sveshnikova-Beghin Model of Powder Snow Avalanches: Development and Application
Journal of Geophysical Research. 2007. DOI : 10.1029/2006JF000489.-
Plasticity and geophysical flows: A review
Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics. 2007. DOI : 10.1016/j.jnnfm.2006.05.005.Teaching & PhD
Teaching
Civil Engineering
PhD Students
Chen Yanan, Farazande Sofi, Gotelli Alvial Clemente Mauricio, Kiani Oshtorjani Mehrdad, Kohler Michael Josef,Past EPFL PhD Students
Andreini Nicolas , Bates Belinda Margaret , Cochard Steve , Dhont Blaise Etienne Marceau , Doda Tomy , Dubuis Romain Maxime , Heyman Joris , Kyburz Michael Lukas , Meng Zhenzhu , Mettra François , Mörtl Christian , Papa Daniel Vito , Pascal Ivan , Rentschler Martin , Rousseau Gauthier Paul Daniel Marie , Trewhela Palacios Tomás Alfredo , Wiederseiner Sébastien , van der Vaart Kasper ,Courses
Fluids mechanics (For GC)
This course is an introduction to fluid mechanics. Physical properties of fluids and the conservation principles (mass and momentum) are presented. The second part of the course is devoted to applications to open-channel hydraulics and pipeline flows.
Hydrological risks and structures
The course is an introduction to extreme value theory and its use for managing hydrological risks (mainly floods). Apart from quantification tools, greater awareness of mitigation policies against natural hazards is developed for land-use-planning applications.
Similarity and Transport Phenomena in Fluid
The course is an introduction to symmetry analysis in fluid mechanics. The student will learn how to find similarity and travelling-wave solutions to partial differential equations used in fluid and continuum mechanics. The course covers mathematical and physical aspects