Modeling the Evolution and Runup of Breaking Solitary and Solitary-Like Waves on Straight and Composite Slopes

Abstract

Understanding the runup and inundation of long waves on coasts is of great importance for coastal community as flooding hazards are closely related to safety issues. For many years, solitary and solitary-like waves are frequently considered as a surrogate of extremely long waves for estimating runup and inundation. Since scaling issues are of concern when extending to real-world conditions, large-scale experiments for solitary waves on uniform beaches are reviewed and additional experiments for solitary waves on composite slopes are performed in this study. As such, those experimental data obtained from large-scale physical modeling can be used to validate numerical models and then to extend the range of parameters in terms of wave conditions and slope geometries which cannot be straightforwardly achieved in large-scale experimental works. Considering the computational efficiency, an open-source non-hydrostatic wave-flow model SWASH is used herein. Detailed model-data comparisons in terms of free surface elevation time series and maximum runup heights are carried out for long waves running up and down on beaches with different slope gradients to ensure the accuracy of the SWASH model for such applications. Finally, a simple method for estimating maximum shoreline excursion for solitary waves on a particularly designed composite slope is provided.