Modelling of tsunami-like wave run-up, breaking and impact on a vertical wall by SPH method

Abstract. Accurate predictions of wave run-up and run-down are important for coastal impact assessment of relatively long waves such as tsunami or storm waves. Wave run-up is, however, a complex process involving nonlinear build-up of the wave front, intensive wave breaking and strong turbulent flow, making the numerical approximation challenging. Recent advanced modelling methodologies could help to overcome these numerical challenges. For a demonstration, we study run-up of non-breaking and breaking solitary waves on a vertical wall using two methods, an enhanced smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method and the traditional non-breaking nonlinear model Tunami-N2. The Tunami-N2 model fails to capture the evolution of steep waves at the proximity of breaking that was observed in the experiments. Whereas the SPH method successfully simulates the wave propagation, breaking, impact on structure and the reform and breaking processes of wave run-down. The study also indicates that inadequate approximation of the wave breaking could lead to significant under-predictions of wave height and impact pressure on structures. The SPH model shows potential applications for accurate impact assessments of wave run-up on to coastal structures.

[1]  S. Shao,et al.  Corrected Incompressible SPH method for accurate water-surface tracking in breaking waves , 2008 .

[2]  Antonio Huerta,et al.  Stabilized updated Lagrangian corrected SPH for explicit dynamic problems , 2007 .

[3]  Fumihiko Imamura,et al.  Numerical Simulation as a Means of Warning for Near-Field Tsunamis , 1990 .

[4]  Vasily Titov,et al.  Numerical Modeling of Tidal Wave Runup , 1998 .

[5]  E. S. Chan,et al.  Deep-water plunging wave pressures on a vertical plane wall , 1988, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[6]  Eng Soon Chan,et al.  Breaking-Wave Loads on Vertical Walls Suspended above Mean Sea Level , 1995 .

[7]  G. Batchelor,et al.  An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics , 1968 .

[8]  L. Lucy.  A numerical approach to the testing of the fission hypothesis. , 1977 .

[9]  Robert A. Dalrymple,et al.  Green water overtopping analyzed with a SPH model , 2005 .

[10]  Debabrata Sen,et al.  Computation of solitary waves during propagation and runup on a slope , 1999 .

[11]  Pavel Tkalich,et al.  Tsunami propagation modelling – a sensitivity study , 2007 .

[12]  Maurizio Brocchini,et al.  Wave impact loads: The role of the flip-through , 2006 .

[13]  I. A. Svendsen,et al.  BREAKING CRITERION AND CHARACTERISTICS FOR SOLITARY WAVES ON SLOPES , 1997 .

[14]  Steven A Hughes,et al.  PHYSICAL MODELS AND LABORATORY TECHNIQUES IN COASTAL ENGINEERING , 1993 .

[15]  Eng Soon Chan,et al.  Mechanics of deep water plunging-wave impacts on vertical structures , 1994 .

[16]  Ying Li,et al.  Energy Balance Model for Breaking Solitary Wave Runup , 2003 .

[17]  Pavel Tkalich,et al.  Numerical modelling of extreme waves by Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics , 2011 .

[18]  Sivakumar Kulasegaram,et al.  Correction and stabilization of smooth particle hydrodynamics methods with applications in metal forming simulations , 2000 .

[19]  Andrey Kurkin,et al.  Tsunamis in the Black Sea: Comparison of the historical, instrumental, and numerical data , 2004 .

[20]  Pavel Tkalich,et al.  Tsunami forecasting using proper orthogonal decomposition method , 2008 .

[21]  Gui-Rong Liu,et al.  Restoring particle consistency in smoothed particle hydrodynamics , 2006 .

[22]  A. Colagrossi,et al.  Numerical simulation of interfacial flows by smoothed particle hydrodynamics , 2003 .

[23]  Kazuya Yasuhara,et al.  Damage from the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami - A quick report , 2011 .

[24]  Yong-Sik Cho,et al.  Runup of solitary waves on a circular Island , 1995, Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

[25]  Dick K. P. Yue,et al.  Deep-water plunging breakers: a comparison between potential theory and experiments , 1988 .

[26]  Benedict D. Rogers,et al.  Numerical Modeling of Water Waves with the SPH Method , 2006 .

[27]  Donald L. Ward.  Physical model study of Revere Beach, Massachusetts / , 1995 .

[28]  James A. Liggett,et al.  Boundary integral equation solutions for solitary wave generation, propagation and run-up , 1983 .

[29]  J. Monaghan,et al.  Smoothed particle hydrodynamics: Theory and application to non-spherical stars , 1977 .

[30]  Bertrand Alessandrini,et al.  An improved SPH method: Towards higher order convergence , 2007, J. Comput. Phys..