Miguel A. Cabrera

NH Natural Hazards

The 2016 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award is awarded to Miguel A. Cabrera for the poster/PICO entitled:

Monodisperse granular flows in viscous dispersions in a centrifugal acceleration field (Cabrera, M. A.; Wu, W.)

Click here to download the poster/PICO file.

Hi, I am Miguel Angel Cabrera. I have studied civil engineering at the National University of Colombia (Bogota, Colombia), followed by a master in geotechnical engineering at the University of Los Andes (Bogota, Colombia), and continued with the study of geophysical flows in my doctoral studies at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) (Vienna, Austria). Currently, I have started as an assistant professor at the University of Los Andes (Bogota, Colombia).

In my master studies, I worked on the centrifuge modeling of the soil-structure interaction of wind turbines. In this work, I implemented a piezoelectric actuator that imposes dynamic and harmonic loads of different frequencies and amplitudes on a wind turbine scale model. The experiments were performed at the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chausées LCPC (currently IFSTTAR) (Nantes, France).

My doctoral studies are related to the simulation of geophysical flows as part of the European-funded MUMOLADE project. Within the MUMOLADE network, I have investigated the interaction of granular suspensions immersed in a viscous dispersion in a large rotating drum and the behavior of granular flows in an augmented acceleration field in a geotechnical centrifuge. Using a rotating drum, I performed a parametric study on the interactions of sand, loess, kaolin and larger particles immersed in water. The observed behavior is excellent in capturing the complexity of granular mixtures under continuous shear conditions. Simultaneously, in the geotechnical centrifuge I designed and set-up a novel experimental model for the simulation of granular flows down an inclined plane. Sand, glass beads, and a viscous dispersion of kaolin and water were studied. The experimental results gave extraordinary insights into the interactions and scaling principles in such a multiphase media subjected to different driving accelerations. In these experiments, an increase in the centrifugal acceleration field results in an enhanced inertial motion at the particle-phase relative to the surrounding fluid.

I find myself deeply grateful receiving the EGU Outstanding Student Poster and PICO award on our poster “Monodisperse granular flows in viscous dispersions in a centrifugal acceleration field” in collaboration with Prof. Wei Wu from the institute of geotechnical engineering at the BOKU Univiersity.