Mesh-free simulation of height and energy transfer of landslide-induced tsunami waves

Abstract

The landslide-induced tsunami wave poses a threat to human society and the living environment by causing disasters such as run-up of water surfaces and overtopping of dams. In this paper, we systematically investigated the relationship between landslide properties and induced tsunami wave characteristics as well as the energy transfer between the landslide and waves. A meshless smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) framework was presented and validated with four experiments of different landslide types. The validations indicate that the SPH model is capable of reproducing the complex processes of tsunami wave generation induced by both rigid and deformable landslides. Then we perform numerical simulations of 162 landslide-induced waves scenarios with varying landslide deformability, relative initial positions, densities, landslide size, and downstream water depths using the validated SPH model. The results show that the effect of density and initial water depth on the maximum wave height can be disregarded, while the effective landslide volume has a significant effect. The analysis of the kinetic and potential energy of the induced waves reveals that energy transfer occurs rapidly, which mainly increases the potential energy of the water downstream. We also find an exponential relationship between landslide potential energy reduction and maximum wave height. These findings provide valuable insights into the landslide-induced tsunami waves and enhance risk assessment and mitigation efforts.