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A tsunami ((t)suːˈnɑːmi,_(t)sʊˈ- ; from 津波, tsɯnami) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions (including detonations, landslides, glacier calvings, meteorite impacts and other disturbances) above or below water all have the potential to generate a tsunami. Unlike normal ocean waves, which are generated by wind, or tides, which are in turn generated by the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun, a tsunami is generated by the displacement of water from a large event. Tsunami waves do not resemble normal undersea currents or sea waves because their wavelength is far longer. Rather than appearing as a breaking wave, a tsunami may instead initially resemble a rapidly rising tide. For this reason, it is often referred to as a tidal wave, although this usage is not favoured by the scientific community because it might give the false

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Experimental study on tsunamis generated by landslides

Christophe Ancey, Ivan Maeder, Zhenzhu Meng

Tsunami generated by landslides is one of the major threats to populations in coastal areas. A recent example is the 2017 Nuugaatsiaq tsunami. The village in Greenland was partially swept by a tsunami created by a landslide that fell into the Karrat Fjord. We carried out laboratory experiments to understand how the wave characteristics are related to the landslide features. Emphasis was put on slide-water interactions and efficiency of momentum transfers between the two media. We manufactured granular slides made of differently sized particles using plasticine clay, whose density is close to that of real-world materials. The granular mixture could be shaped, which made it possible to study how the leading edge’s shape affected momentum transfer. The mixture was initially placed in a reservoir upstream of a chute, which entered into a water basin. The angle of chute and water depth were kept constant in all our experiments, whereas the material properties and volume were varied systematically. Wave amplitudes and heights were determined from the free-surface variations, which were recorded using a high-speed camera. The velocity field within the water basin was measured using Particle image velocimetry (PIV). To compare the waves generated by slides exhibiting different properties, empirical equations for prediction of wave characteristics were used. We discuss the differences between experimental results and predictions based on empirical equations. Among other things, we found that the lower the material’s permeability, the larger the wave amplitude.

2020

Experimental comparison of tsunami generated by viscoplastic and granular slides.

Zhenzhu Meng

Tsunami induced by subaerial landslides threatens coastal areas. The waves have mostly been studied in the laboratory using sliding blocks or granular media hitting a water body, but none of these materials makes it possible to understand how sliding mass’ cohesion affects the wave dynamics. The present study provides an experimental comparison of the tsunami generated by viscoplastic and granular slides. As viscoplastic material, we used a stable polymeric gel called Carbopol Ultrez 10, whose rheological behavior is captured by a Herschel-Bulkley model. As granular material, we used soft water balls, 15 mm in diameter, with a density close to that of Carbopol. In these experiments, we monitored the evolution of the free surface and the sliding mass using a high speed camera. The maximum wave amplitude, wave height, wave energy and wave length, as well as the sliding mass driving the leading wave formation are analyzed for the two materials. To compare the tsunami generated by viscoplastic and granular slides, the parameters in the granular slide test are correlated with those pertaining to the viscoplastic slide test. The results reveal that viscoplastic slides generate larger waves than granular slides, while granular slides generate longer waves than viscoplastic slides.

2018

Numerical approach in the study of tsunami-like waves and comparison with experimental data

Giovanni De Cesare, Shun Nomura, Michael Pfister, Davide Wüthrich

A comprehensive understanding of physical phenomena based on a hybrid experimental-numerical approach supports a safer design of critical infrastructures. However, for large-scale tsunami-like waves, the reliability of numerical models was insufficiently validated. Herein, we validate our numerical model of tsunami-like waves by comparing simulation data (obtained using a smoothed particle hydrodynamics method based on a highly efficient parallel computing technique) with large-scale experimental data for both, dry bed surges and wet bed bores. The presented preliminary results are believed to aid the development of experimentally validated numerical tools for a better understanding of tsunami-like flows.

2019

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