An experimental study on tsunami inundation over complex coastal topography

Abstract

In recent studies, the effects of complex costal topography on tsunami run-up has sparked heated discussion. This study mainly aims at investigating the effects of complex costal topography on the tsunami inundation distance and the effectiveness of sand dunes in dissipating tsunami wave energy. The experiments were carried out in a wave flume to investigate the potential reduction effects of wave run-up by non erodible sand dune like features. The results show that increasing dunes spacing could not significantly affect inundation distance. However, if the height of sand dunes is of the same order of magnitude as the incoming tsunami wave and the gaps between the dunes are large enough, successful tsunami mitigation could also be possible.