A Fully Lagrangian Model Using DEM-WCMPS to Simulate Solid Objects in Free-surface Flow With Applications to River Ice Dynamics

River ice dynamic processes, such as the break-up, transport, jamming, and release of ice parcels, play a curtail role in hydrodynamic, morphodynamic, and transport processes in cold region rivers. For instance, ice jams, caused by an accumulation of frazil or fragmented ice, restrict flow and can trigger ice jam floods, one of the greatest river ice hazards. Ice jam can damage properties and infrastructures as well as cause inconveniences to people, such as dislocation or even loss of life. In order to mitigate these consequences, the dynamic of river ice jams needs to be understood and predicted. Due to the complexities involved in the multiphase ice-water system, this phenomenon has remained largely unpredictable. This thesis's main objective is to give more insight into this phenomenon by providing benchmark cases mimicking the characteristics of a jam release and developing a numerical model capable of reproducing the complex dynamic behavior of solid (ice) and fluid (water) interactions. Small-scale and challenging experiments were carried out at the Hydraulic Laboratory of École Polytechnique of Montreal. Dam-break flows were reproduced over dry and wet beds with floating block floes (representing the ice) to provide useful and comprehensive quality data for the validation of ice jam models.«