Prediction of the characteristics of a tsunami wave near the Tohoku coastline

Prediction of the characteristics of a tsunami wave near the Tohoku coastline: Numerical SWASH modelling

Roubos, Jochem (TU Delft Civil Engineering & Geosciences)

Hofland, Bas (mentor)
Bricker, J.D. (graduation committee)
Zijlema, Marcel (graduation committee)
Esteban, Miguel (graduation committee)

Delft University of Technology

2019-07-02

To calculate tsunami forces on coastal structures, the wave type in front of the coast is of great importance. Hence this paper aims to find ways to predict the type of tsunami wave breaking. Based on literature review, video footage, analytical reasoning and numerical modelling (SWASH) it can be concluded that both the continental shelf slope (alpha_2) and the bay geometry (beta) have a significant influence on the transformation of a tsunami wave near the coastline. After conducting 1D and 2DH wave simulations, a distinction is made in three types of tsunami waves; a non-breaking front (surging), a breaking front (plunging) and an undular bore breaking front (spilling). Tsunami waves transform into these three wave types for a steep continental shelf, an intermediate sloped continental shelf, and a gentle sloped continental shelf respectively. A new tsunami breaker parameter (xi_tsunami) is proposed to predict the type of wave at the coastline in a quantitative way.

Tsunami
Breaker parameter
Undular bores
Surging
Classification
Continental shelf
Bay geometry

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:421cd6b8-fd31-424a-aa9b-529dc17018eb

2020-06-26

This is a report of a master thesis, where a draft version of a publication is combined with the final report as an appendix.

Student theses

master thesis

© 2019 Jochem Roubos