Simulation of Tsunamis

Dr Steve Roberts

Description of Project

Impacts to the built environment from a hazard such tsunami are critical in understanding the economic and social effects of such events on our communities. In order to better understand these effects, Geoscience Australia and the Australian National University are developing a software modelling tool for the simulation of inundation of coastal areas by tsunamis. The tool is based on solving the Shallow Water Wave equation using a finite-volume method based on unstructured triangular grids with fluxes calculated using a central scheme. An important capability of the method is its ability to model the process of wetting and drying as water enters and leaves an area. This means that it is suitable for simulating water flow onto a beach or dry land and around structures such as buildings. It is also capable of resolving hydraulic jumps, due to the ability of the central scheme to handle discontinuities. Here is a 5MB movie of a simulated tsunami of 6 metres hitting a builtup area on the east coast of Australia.

Project

This project will investigate the extension of the model to deal with very sharp changes in topography and search for new methods to improve the stability of the algorithms in these cases. Part of the project will involve the simulation of tsunamis on the Australian coast, in particular the effect of the Barrier reef on the intensity of such events.