Welcome!

My research focuses on computational modeling of the mechanics of porous solids and granular flows, with a particular emphasis on snow.

Below you will find selected
Publications
Invited talks and presentations
Open-source codes

You can also find me on Google Scholar, ResearchGate, LinkedIn, GitHub.

Recent preprints

Modeling elasto-viscoplastic free-surface flows with different yield surfaces

L. Blatny and A. Pellet
ArXiv Preprint, 2607.17380 (2026)
View at publisher

Unified sparse framework for large-scale material point method simulations

Y. Zhao, L. Blatny, X. Feng, M. M. Juel, C. Jiang and J. Gaume
ArXiv Preprint, 2605.28525 (2026)
View at publisher

Publications

Observations and modeling of slushflows from Atigun Pass, Alaska

L. Blatny, D. Hamre, J. Gaume, P. Gauer and A. Mears
Cold Regions Science and Technology 245, 104812 (2026)
View at publisher

A stabilized fractional-step MPM with pressure gradient projection for coupled hydromechanical extreme deformations

M. M. Juel, H. Vicari, Y. Zhao, L. Blatny, C. Jiang and J. Gaume
Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering 461, 119140 (2026)
View at publisher

Frictional weakening in the highly mobile 2025 Blatten rock and ice avalanche in Switzerland

J. Kang , A. Lucas, A. Mangeney, J. Gaume, K. Allstadt, C. Hibert, L. Toney, H. Vicari, M. Dietze, M. Jacquemart, M. Peruzzetto, L. Blatny, M. Kyburz, J. Rimpot, D. Farinotti and F. Walter
Communications Earth & Environment 7, 722 (2026)
View at publisher

Continuum modeling of cohesive and compressible granular matter

L. Blatny, J.M.N.T. Gray and J. Gaume
10th Powders and Grains, EPJ Web Conf. 340, 02013 (2025)
View at publisher

Matter (v1): An open-source MPM solver for granular matter

L. Blatny and J. Gaume
Geoscientific Model Development 18, 22, 9149–9166 (2025)
View at publisher
This work was featured in the ETH News

A critical state μ(I)-rheology model for cohesive granular flows

L. Blatny, J.M.N.T. Gray and J. Gaume
Journal of Fluid Mechanics 997, A67 (2024)
View at publisher

Transition between mechanical and geometric controls in glacier crevassing processes

H. Rousseau, J. Gaume, L. Blatny and M. Lüthi
Geophysical Research Letters 51, 9, e2024GL108206 (2024)
View at publisher

Microstructural controls on the plastic consolidation of porous brittle solids

L. Blatny, H. Löwe and J. Gaume
Acta Materialia 250, 118861 (2023)
View at publisher

A depth-averaged material point method for shallow landslides: Applications to snow slab avalanche release

L. Guillet, L. Blatny, B. Trottet, D. Steffen and J. Gaume
Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface 128, 8, e2023JF007092 (2023)
View at publisher

Microstructural origin of propagating compaction patterns in porous media

L. Blatny, P. Berclaz, F. Guillard, I. Einav and J. Gaume
Physical Review Letters 128, 228002 (2022)
View at publisher [Video] [Supplemental Document]
This work was featured in Physics Magazine

Towards a predictive multi-phase model for alpine mass movements and process cascades

A. Cicoira, L. Blatny, X. Li, B. Trottet and J. Gaume
Engineering Geology 310, 106866 (2022)
View at publisher

Computational micromechanics of porous brittle solids

L. Blatny, H. Löwe, S. Wang and J. Gaume
Computers and Geotechnics 140, 104284 (2021)
View at publisher

Invited talks and presentations

• Jul 23, 2026: Modeling cohesive viscoplastic geophysical flows with the material point method,
  17th World Congress on Computation Mechanics (WCCM), Munich, Germany

• Feb 13, 2026: 3D continuum modeling of mass movements,
  SWICCOMAS 2026, Bern, Switzerland

• Jun 25, 2025: MPM modeling of alpine mass movements with granular rheologies
  4th IMA Conference on Dense Granular Flows, Cambridge, UK

• Jun 17, 2025: Modeling granular mechanics and flow with MPM
  Jean Le Rond d’Alembert Institute Seminar, Paris, France

• Oct 24, 2024: Continuum modeling of cohesive and compressible granular flows with elasto-viscoplasticity
  60th Anniversary of Groupe Français de Rhéologie, Marseille, France

• Sep 30, 2024: The emergence of propagating compaction bands in porous inelastic media
  ALERT Geomaterials Workshop 2024, Aussois, France

• Jul 4, 2024: Modeling snow through its solid and liquid phase
  SANDLESS 2024, Sydney, Australia

• Oct 11, 2023: Modeling cohesive and compressible granular flows with critical state µ(I)-rheology
  Society of Engineering Sciences 2023, Minneapolis, USA

• Jun 2, 2023: Erosion, deposition, waves and rate-dependency in alpine mass movements
  INRAE MPM Workshop 2023, Aix-en-Provence, France

• Oct 18, 2022: Modeling granular media by combining μ(I)-rheology and critical state soil mechanics
  Graphyz2 - The First Graphics-Physics Workshop, 2nd Ed., Arc-et-Senans, France

• Sep 29, 2022: An elastic–viscoplastic constitutive model for snow avalanche dynamics
  IGS International Symposium on Snow, Davos, Switzerland

• Aug 2, 2022: Plastic collapse in porous brittle solids
  15th World Congress on Computation Mechanics (WCCM), Yokohama, Japan (virtual)

• May 10, 2022: Constitutive modeling of snow
  MultiPLES Laboratory, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

• Sep 8, 2021: Investigating the mechanics of porous brittle solids with the material point method and Gaussian random field microstructures
  XVI International Conference on Computational Plasticity (COMPLAS), Barcelona, Spain

• Apr 27, 2021: A unified framework for computational microstructure-based snow mechanics
  EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria (virtual)

• May 8, 2020: Microstructure-based modeling of snow using the material point method and finite strain elastoplasticity
  EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria (virtual)

Theses

• Modeling the mechanics and rheology of porous and granular media: an elastoplastic continuum approach. EPFL. Supervisors: Prof. J. Gaume, Prof. J.F. Molinari. DOI: 10.5075/epfl-thesis-10267

• Computing measure-valued solutions of the Leray-alpha model of turbulence. ETH Zürich. Supervisor: Prof. S. Mishra.

Software

• Matter [Code] [Paper]: A 2D and 3D Material Point Method (MPM) solver written in C++ specifically designed for granular mechanics and rheology, based on a finite strain elasto-viscoplastic framework.

• GRFsaw [Code] [Paper]: A simple Python code for constructing and processing artificial binary microstructures in 2D or 3D.