Title

Validation and inter-comparison of models for landslide tsunami generation

Authors

James T. Kirby, University of Delaware
Stephan T. Grilli, University of Rhode Island
Juan Horrillo, Texas A and M University at Galveston
Philip L.F. Liu, National University of Singapore
Dmitry Nicolsky, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Stephane Abadie, Universite de Pau et des Pays de L'Adour
Behzad Ataie-Ashtiani, Sharif University of Technology
Manuel J. Castro, Universidad de Málaga
Lucie Clous, Universite de Pau et des Pays de L'Adour
Cipriano Escalante, Universidad de Córdoba
Isaac Fine, Institute of Ocean Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans Canada
José Manuel González-Vida, Universidad de Málaga
Finn Løvholt, Norges Geotekniske Institutt
Patrick Lynett, University of Southern California
Gangfeng Ma, Old Dominion University
Jorge Macías, Universidad de Málaga
Sergio Ortega, Universidad de Málaga
Fengyan Shi, University of Delaware
Saeedeh Yavari-Ramshe, Sharif University of Technology
Cheng Zhang, University of Delaware

Document Type

Article

Date of Original Version

2-1-2022

Abstract

The Mapping and Modeling Subcommittee of the US National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program convened a workshop in January 2017 to evaluate the present state of numerical models for the simulation of tsunamis generated by submarine or subaerial landslides. A range of benchmark tests were provided to participants, with three tests emphasized: (i) a laboratory submarine solid slide in a 2D horizontal tank, (ii) a laboratory submarine granular slide in a 1D flume, and (iii) a field case based on submarine slides which occurred in Port Valdez, AK during the 1964 Alaska earthquake. Nine landslide tsunami models configured with 21 different combinations of physical options were benchmarked, including: (1) hydrostatic models with no frequency dispersion, which include the nonlinear shallow equation models traditionally used for modeling coseismic tsunamis; (2) Boussinesq or one-layer weakly dispersive models; (3) Multi-layer or non-hydrostatic (i.e., dispersive) models; and (4) Full Navier–Stokes models. Model/data comparison indicates that the inclusion of frequency dispersion in model formulations is critical to obtaining physically reasonable results for the test cases considered. Because the importance of dispersive effects is unknown a priori for any given simulated event, the central recommendation from this work is that a model with at minimum a leading-order representation of frequency dispersion effects be used whenever possible for landslide tsunami simulations.

Publication Title, e.g., Journal

Ocean Modelling

Volume

170

Citation/Publisher Attribution

Kirby, James T., Stephan T. Grilli, Juan Horrillo, Philip L. Liu, Dmitry Nicolsky, Stephane Abadie, Behzad Ataie-Ashtiani, Manuel J. Castro, Lucie Clous, Cipriano Escalante, Isaac Fine, José Manuel González-Vida, Finn Løvholt, Patrick Lynett, Gangfeng Ma, Jorge Macías, Sergio Ortega, Fengyan Shi, Saeedeh Yavari-Ramshe, and Cheng Zhang. "Validation and inter-comparison of models for landslide tsunami generation." Ocean Modelling 170, (2022). doi: 10.1016/j.ocemod.2021.101943.