Thermo-mechanical modelling of ground deformation in volcanic areas

Numerical models are valuable tools to investigate the effect of mechanical heterogeneities when studying the deformation of structures subjected to complex loading conditions. A thermo-mechanical numerical model is performed in order to evaluate the temperature dependence of the rheological behaviour. Accounting for viscoelastic and elasto-plastic material around the volcanic source remarkably reduces the magmatic pressure necessary to trigger the observed magnitude of surface deformation with respect to solutions from elastic models. Model assumptions on the medium rheology strongly affect the resulting solutions for ground deformation which is important for estimating eruption hazards.