Numerical study of vegetation damping effects on solitary wave run-up using the nonlinear shallow water equations

Abstract

Vegetation damping effects on propagating water waves have been investigated by many researchers. This paper investigates the effects of damping due to vegetation on solitary water wave run-up via numerical simulation. The numerical model is based on an implementation of Morison's formulation for vegetation induced inertia and drag stresses in the nonlinear shallow water equations. The numerical model is solved via a finite volume method on a Cartesian cut cell mesh. The accuracy of the numerical scheme and the effects of the vegetation terms in the present model are validated by comparison with experiment results. The model is then applied to simulate a solitary wave propagating on a plane slope with vegetation. The sensitivity of solitary wave run-up to plant height, diameter and stem density is investigated by comparison of the numerical results for different patterns of vegetation. The numerical results show that vegetation can effectively reduce solitary wave propagation velocity and that solitary wave run-up is decreased with increase of plant height in water and also diameter and stem density.