Tsunami hydrodynamic force on a building using a SPH real-scale numerical simulation

Abstract

One of the most important aspects in tsunami studies is the wave behavior when it approaches the coast. Information on physical parameters that characterize waves is often limited because of the diffilculties in achieving accurate measurements at the time of the event. The impact of a tsunami on the coast is governed by nonlinear physics such as turbulence with spatial and temporal variability. The use of the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamic method (SPH) presents advantages over models based on two-dimensional Shallow Waters Equations (SWE), because the assumed vertical velocity simplifies hydrodynamics in two dimensions. The study presented here reports numerical SPH simulations of the tsunami event occurred in Coquimbo (Chile) on September 16 of 2015. On the basis of the reconstruction of the physical parameters that characterized this event (flow velocities, direction and water elevations), calibrated by a reference rodel, force values on buildings located on the study coast were numerically calculated, and compared with an estimate of the Chilean Structural Design Standard. Finally, discussion and conclusions of the comparison of both methodologies are presented, including an influence analysis of the topographical detail of the model in the estimation of hydrodynamic forces.