Small ship collisions in coastal areas during tsunamis: Impact on seawalls behind sand dunes

Abstract

Coastal regions often feature seawalls situated behind sand dunes, introducing unique topographical factors that significantly influence ship drift and collision behavior. This study investigates the collision dynamics of a small ship, particularly fishing boats, in coastal areas during tsunamis and the subsequent impact forces on a seawall behind dunes. Through hydraulic model experiments, the characteristics of tsunami-driven drift, collision probabilities, and instantaneous impact forces were examined. The likelihood of ship collisions with seawalls increased when the dimensionless initial position of a ship (the ratio of its distance from the shore to the tsunami breaking point) was less than 0.6. The impact force experienced by a ship was influenced by the behavior of the water mass rising in front of the seawall post-tsunami. Collisions before the descending water mass resulted in increased impact forces, while collisions post-descent showed forces decreased owing to reduced drift velocity. In cases where ships encountered falling water masses before a collision, impact forces decreased significantly compared to other scenarios. An equation to estimate ship impact velocity, accounting for dune effects, based on the dimensionless time difference between the tsunami and ship collision and the tsunami propagation velocity calculated from near-shore tsunami height was introduced. This equation considers the damping effect of impact velocity, improving accuracy within the experimental range of small impact forces.