This paper will concentrate on the pneumatic tsunami generation method, describing how designs were developed, how they work, and presenting research results validating their performance to quantify tsunami effects. This paper documents the development of a laboratory modeling technique that can reproduce at appropriate scales, subduction zone tsunami, for example, those measured in the 2004 Indian Ocean and 2011 Japan East Coast tsunami. This paper aims to draw together the lessons learnt from over ten years of research, designing, constructing and testing world-leading pneumatic Tsunami Simulators for scaled laboratory modeling.
This method makes it possible to generate waves of very long wavelength and, crucially, has been shown to accurately reproduce free surface profiles from recorded tsunami field data.
This is demonstrated clearly in (Figure 2 of Schimmels et al., 2016) where they compare the trace recorded by the yacht “Mercator” and one from the 2011 East Coast tsunami with a solitary wave.Ī unique advantage of the pneumatic tsunami generation method for physical modeling described here is that it enables the displacement of very large volumes of water in a controlled manner. the trace recorded by the yacht “Mercator” of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami at a water depth of 14 m) show that the solitary and N-wave approximations are poor representations of real tsunami signals. The few field measurements of tsunami free-surface elevation that have been recorded in recent years, (e.g. It is therefore vital for researchers to understand which type of tsunami they are representing within their experiments.
Having described each of the first, second, and third generation Tsunami Simulators, the paper discusses how to calibrate the wave generation control to model tsunami with model periods 20–240 s duration (equivalent to 2–20 min duration in prototype at 1:50 scale), many of which are far too long to “fit into the test flume.” The evolution of a composite approach to wave calibration is described with examples from second and third generation devices, demonstrated by successful simulation of both the 2004 Boxing Day, and the 2011 Great Eastern Japan (Tohoku) Tsunami at 1:50 scale.Īccurate modeling of tsunami propagation and interaction with coastlines is vital to develop informed tsunami defense, public advice and warning systems, and to manage disaster relief. Example results are presented from selected research studies that have validated their performance and then used to quantify tsunami effects.
The paper describes how the simulator designs were developed and how they performed in the laboratory.
The pneumatic method, originally developed for tidal modeling in the Fifties, has been modernized to generate extraordinarily long waves in a controlled manner, with accurate reproduction of recorded free-surface tsunami field data.
This paper describes the evolution through three generations of pneumatic Tsunami Simulators for physical model tests of realistic tsunami. 4EPICentre, Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London, London, United Kingdom.3EPICentre, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London, London, United Kingdom.2William Allsop Consulting Ltd, Abingdon, United Kingdom.1HR Wallingford, Wallingford, United Kingdom.Ian Chandler 1, William Allsop 2, David Robinson 3 and Tiziana Rossetto 4*