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.
Highlights
In recent studies, the effects of complex costal topography on tsunami run-up has sparked heated discussion
Sand dunes are normally found very near to the coastline and if left undisturbed can be used as a first line of tsunami inundation defence
Run-up (r) of 2, 3, 4 cm, the calculated wave length ranged from 10.62 to 7.51 m. These wave lengths are much longer than the dune spacing itself and the increment in the dune spacing for this experiment is not big enough to produce any significant changes in the recorded inundation distance
Summary
The effects of complex costal topography on tsunami run-up has sparked heated discussion. The experimental recorded inundation results are compared with the target incident wave heights and the dune spacing. The data points of recorded inundation distance without any dunes are shown for comparison.
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