THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE DAM-BREAK WAVE TIP REGION

Abstract

Dam-break flow has direct relationship with many coastal engineering problems, such as swash movement and tsunami event. Plenty of studies have been conducted on this topic. In terms of theoretical analysis, initiating from the classic Ritter’s solution, various approaches have been applied, e.g., the method of characteristics, the perturbation method, and the parametric substitution. As for the physical test, significant improvement has been achieved with the development of measuring instruments. Nevertheless, clear understanding on the hydrodynamic features of the wave tip region, where the bottom resistance and flow viscosity play important roles, is still far beyond enough.