Comparison between Computed and Experimentally Generated Impulse Waves
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 2
Abstract
Large water waves caused by massive slide impacts are a potential hazard along waterways, coastal areas and Alpine regions. Experimental research has been conducted at the Swiss Laboratory of Hydraulics to assess the risk from landslide-generated impulse waves. Analogously, the Centro Elettrotecnico Sperimentale Italiano performed numerical simulations of initial landslide and consequent impulse wave propagation using two mathematical models based on the conservative shallow-water equations. This paper presents the experimental test results and numerical predictions of impulse waves in a flume for a range of stillwater depths, landslide volumes, and impact velocities at laboratory scale. The comparison between the measured and predicted wave free surface profiles generally produced corresponding wave heights, although the initial wave peak is too steep and arrives too early. Excluding spurious random effects, the relative differences between measured and numerically computed maximum wave heights ranged within , which can be considered satisfactory from the engineering point of view.
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Acknowledgments
The writers express thanks to Dr. Roberto Rangogni for his passionate contribution to the numerical code, and Engineer Francesca Romana Gubiotti for numerical computations. They also owe thanks to Professor Dr. W. H. Hager and Professor Dr. Ing. H.-E. Minor, director of VAW, who kindly supported the collaboration between CESI and ETH-VAW. For CESI this work was financed by the Research Fund for Italian Electrical System established with Ministry of Industry Decree No. UNSPECIFIEDDM 26/1/2000.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 133 • Issue 2 • February 2007
Pages: 208 - 216
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Oct 1, 2004
Accepted: Jul 17, 2006
Published online: Feb 1, 2007
Published in print: Feb 2007
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