Cooperative Research: Coastal Effects of Tsunamis

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

This action provides support fora group research project focusing on specific aspects of tsunami coastal hazards mitigation. To mitigate tsunami coastal hazards, the first priority is to improve the identification of the tsunami-inundation zone. Recently, NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) has launched a comprehensive program to estimate potential inundation zones along the coastal areas of the Pacific States (California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii; http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tsunami/time/). The next level of mitigation strategy is to reduce loss of life and property damage within the tsunami inundation zones by considering the runup process in detail: flow patterns, induced forces, the impact of debris and floating objects, and their implication for improved design of waterfront structures and decisions concerning land use. The five primary objectives are to: Understand the fundamental turbulence phenomena associated with tsunami runup and its effects on tsunami forces on structures and scouring; Improve the prediction capability of tsunami runup models, by more accurately including the effects of dispersion and wave breaking; Achieve a practical means of describing the complex runup flows within the context of their interactions with structures, trees and other typical complex coastal features (e.g. dunes, earthen dikes and river intlets); Develop benchmark problems and their solutions for validating numerical models and for determining the adequacy of different approximations for different applications in tsunami hazard reduction; Develop scenarios focusing on four interrelated issues: single and multiple structures (rectangular and cylindrical forms), porous media, missiles/debris impacts, and scouring. The project involves researchers from Cornell University, Southern Methodist University, the University of Southern California, the University of Washington, GeoEngineers, Inc., Seattle, and a Professor Emeritus from Harvard University. In addition, it includes collaboration on scouring during tsunami runup with researchers at Japan's Public Works Research Institute (PWRI), using PWRI's large and unique experimental facility.