Field Observation and the Applicability Limit of the Model for Boulder Transport by the Tsunami (BTT-Model) based on the Hydraulic Experiment

Abstract

Sometimes tsunami transports large boulders (tsunami boulders). The movement of tsunami boulders could have directly related to the hydraulic force of tsunami. Our field observations clarified that long axes of boulders at Pakarang Cape, Thailand, which had been transported by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, were likely to be vertical against the tsunami flow direction. Moreover, our hydraulic experiment revealed that boulder movement is affected by their initial long axes orientations, suggesting that shapes and long axes orientations of boulders must be considered in the numerical simulation.