Long wave and tsunami runup



Mt. Fuji off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) (Thanks to CACR !)


Project summary :

This project deals with the numerical modeling of long wave propagation and runup in the ocean. These waves are usually represented by solitary waves which are known to closely model waves generated by tsunamis (i.e., underwater earthquakes see, e.g., Tsunami Research at CERC for general informations on tsunamis).

The methods used to develop models here include fully nonlinear potential flow models of the kind described in the other research project Nonlinear wave shoaling, breaking, and runup on slopes/beaches. These two projects have been carried out somewhat in parallel with the tsunami runup studies, on an on and off basis since 1990. More recently, incollaboration with P. Watts, a 2D model of tsunami/long waves generated by an underwater landslide has been developed and applied to the 1998 Papua New Guinea Event

A review as well as recent work on tsunami runup models can be found in paper number 17 listed below. For recent tsunami research information see the Tsunami Community Webpage.

Funding history, tsunami workshops :

  1. 1991-92 : Grant No. BCS-9111827 (PI with N. Kobayashi, $36,851) of the "National Science Foundation" (NSF) Engineering/Earthquake, Hazards and Mitigation Program, to support the : Documentation and Maintenance of a Numerical Software for Calculating Nonlinear Wave Runup.
  2. 1992-93 : Grant No. NA89AA/D/SG/082 (PI, $44,330) of the University of Rhode Island Sea Grant College Program, to support the study of : Breaking Waves on Beaches.
  3. Catalina Island (CA-USA) August 15-17, 1990 : Presentation of two invited lectures : (i) Nonlinear waves on steep Slopes; (ii) The Effect of Submerged Breakwaters on Long Wave Runup, in the NSF-sponsored International Workshop on Long wave Runup.
  4. Friday Harbor (WA, USA) September 11-17, 1995 : Presentation of an invited keynote lecture : Review of Boundary Element Models for Long Wave Runup, at the NSF-sponsored  2nd. Intl. Workshop on Long-Wave Runup Models.
  5. 2000-01 : Gift-grant from Applied Fluids Engineering Inc. (PI, 2000-2001, $32,800) to the Ocean Engineering Coastal Engineering Laboratory, to support : Fundamental Research on Tsunami Generation by Underwater Landslides and Slumps.
  6. 2001-04 : Grant No. CMS-0100223 (PI with P. Watts, 2001-03, $204,645) of the "National Science Foundation" (NSF) Engineering/Earthquake, Hazards and Mitigation Program, to support the : Case studies and tsunami community model for underwater landslide.
  7. 2003 : Grant CMS-0301862 (PI, 2003, $37,000) of the ``National Sciences Foundation'' (NSF) Engineering/Earthquake, Hazards and Mitigation Program, to support a : Workshop on Model Validation and Benchmarking for Tsunami Generation by Submarine Mass Failure.
  8. 2005-2006 : Grant (PI with Chris Baxter, $86,753) from FM Global : Numerical Simulation of Tsunami Hazard Maps for the US East Coast.
  9. 2005-06 : Grant of the ``Champlin Foundation'' to support : Adapting a Pressure Recording Inverted Echo Sounder to Tsunami and Earthquake Monitoring (Co-PI,$96,500).
  10. 2005-2009 : Grant (Co-PI with Mohammad Faghri, John Grandin, Otto Gregory, Thomas Mather, Donna Meyer, Zongqin Zhang, and Christopher Baxter, $2,364,000) from NSF OISE-Collaborative research Program : Partnership for International research and Education in Microfluidic Technology and applications.

Key personnel at URI :

  1. S.T. Grilli : Ph.D, Distinguished Professor of OE, Principal investigator.
  2. R. Subramanya : MS in OE, research associate 1992-94
  3. S. Guignard :Post-doctoral associate 2000-2001
  4. S. Vogelmann : MS in OE, 2001
  5. F. Enet : PhD in OE, 2001-2006
  6. S. Maretzki : M.S. in OE, 2005-2006
  7. Y. Perignon : M.S. (ENSIETA, France), 2006
  8. Y. Drouin : M.S. (ECN, France), 2006
  9. D. Gemme : M.S. student in OE, 2006-
  10. M. El Bettah : Ph.D. student in OE, 2006-
  11. S. Dubosc : Ph.D. student in OE, 2007-


Collaborations :

  1. I.A. Svendsen : Ph.D, Professor, Center for Applied Coastal Research, University of Delaware (1987-1996)
  2. M.A. Losada : Ph.D, Professor, University of Cantabria, Santander (Spain)
  3. J.T. Kirby : Ph.D, Professor, Center for Applied Coastal Research, University of Delaware (1993-)
  4. P. Watts : Ph.D, Applied Fluids Engineering (1996-)
  5. F. Dias : Ph.D, Professor, Ecole Normale Superieure, Cachans, France (1998-)
  6. M. Ioualalen : Ph.D, Senior research Scientist, Geoscience Azur, Nice, France (2004-)
  7. S. Abadie : Ph.D, Assistant Professor, University of Pau et des Pays de l'Adour, Anglet, France (2004-)
  8. M. Saillard : Professor, University of Toulon, Toulon, France (2006-)

Publications :

  1. Grilli, S.T. and Svendsen, I.A. 1989 Runup and Reflection of a Solitary Wave on Steep Slopes in a Numerical Wave Tank. In Proc. 4th Intl. Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bodies (Oystese, Norway, May 89) (ed. J. Grue), pp. 77-82. Department of Mathematics, University of Oslo, Oslo.(invited paper)
  2. Grilli, S.T. and Svendsen, I.A. 1990 The Propagation and Runup of Solitary Waves on Steep Slopes. Center for Applied Coastal Research, University of Delaware, Research Report No. 91-4.
  3. Svendsen, I.A. and Grilli, S.T. 1990 Nonlinear Waves on Steep Slopes. Journal of Coastal Research, ``Special Issue on Rational Design of Mound Structures'' SI 7, 185-202.
  4. Grilli, S.T. and Svendsen, I.A. 1990 Computation of Nonlinear Wave Kinematics during Propagation and Runup on a Slope. Chapter in Water Wave Kinematics (ed. A. Torum and O.T. Gudmestad), NATO ASI Series E: Applied Sciences Vol. 178, 387-412. Klüwer Academic Publishers.
  5. Otta, A.K., Svendsen, I.A. and Grilli, S.T. 1992 Unsteady Free Surface Waves in a Region of Arbitrary Shape. Center for Applied Coastal Research, University of Delaware, Research Report No. 92-10, 153 pps.
  6. Grilli, S.T., Losada, M.A., Martin, F. and Svendsen, I.A. 1992 Nonlinear Shoaling and Impact of Waves on Coastal Structures. In Proc. 9th Engineering Mechanics Conf. (College Station, Texas, May 92) (eds. L.D. Lutes and J.M. Niedzwecki), pp. 79-82. ASCE edition.(invited paper)
  7. Grilli, S.T. 1993 Modeling of Nonlinear Wave Motion in Shallow Water. Chapter 3 in Computational Methods for Free and Moving Boundary Problems in Heat and Fluid Flow (eds. L.C. Wrobel and C.A. Brebbia), pps. 37-65, Computational Mechanics Publication, Elsevier Applied Sciences, London, UK.
  8. Grilli, S.T. and Subramanya, R. 1993 A Computer Program for Transient Wave Runup. Center for Applied Coastal Research, University of Delaware, Research Report No. 93-02, 131 pps.
  9. Otta, A.K., Svendsen, I.A. and Grilli, S.T. 1993 The Breaking and Runup of Solitary Waves on Beaches. In Proc. 23rd Intl. Conf. on Coastal Engineering (ICCE23, Venice, Italy, October 92) Vol. 2, pps. 1461-1474. ASCE edition.
  10. Grilli, S.T., Losada, M.A. and Martin, F. 1994. Characteristics of Solitary Wave Breaking Induced by Breakwaters. Journal of Waterway Port Coastal and Ocean Engineering 120(1), 74-92. [abstract]
  11. Grilli, S.T., Subramanya, R., Kirby, J.T. and Wei, J. 1994 Comparison of Modified Boussinesq and Fully Nonlinear Potential Models for Shoaling Solitary Waves. In Proc. Intl. Symposium on Waves - Physical and Num. Modelling (Vancouver BC, Canada, Aug. 1994) (eds. M. Isaacson & M. Quick), Vol. 1, pps. 524-533, IAHR.
  12. Subramanya, R. and Grilli, S.T. 1994 Kinematics and Properties of Fully Nonlinear Waves Shoaling and Breaking over a Gentle Slope. In Proc. Intl. Symposium on Waves - Physical and Num. Modelling (Vancouver BC, Canada, Aug. 1994) (eds. M. Isaacson and M. Quick), Vol. 2, pps. 1106-1115, IAHR.
  13. Grilli, S., Subramanya, R., Svendsen, I.A. and Veeramony, J. 1994 Shoaling of Solitary Waves on Plane Beaches. Journal of Waterway Port Coastal and Ocean Engineering, 120 (6), 609-628. [abstract]
  14. Grilli, S.T. and R. Subramanya 1995 Recent Advances in the BEM Modelling of Nonlinear Water Waves. Chapter 4 in Boundary Element Applications in Fluid Mechanics (ed. H. Power), pps. 91-122. Advances in Fluid Mechanics Series. Computational Mechanics Publication, Southampton, UK. [abstract]
  15. Wei, J., Kirby, J.T, Grilli, S.T. and Subramanya, R. 1995 A Fully Nonlinear Boussinesq Model for Surface Waves. Part1. Highly Nonlinear Unsteady Waves. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 294, 71-92. [abstract]
  16. Grilli, S.T., Svendsen, I.A. and Subramanya, R. 1997 Breaking Criterion and Characteristics for Solitary Waves on Slopes. Journal of Waterway Port Coastal and Ocean Engineering 123 (3), 102-112. [abstract]   [pdf]  (375K)
  17. Grilli, S.T. 1997 Fully Nonlinear Potential Flow Models used for Long Wave Runup Prediction. Chapter in Long-Wave Runup Models (eds. H. Yeh, P. Liu, and C. Synolakis), pps. 116-180. World Scientific Publishing, Singapore. [abstract]   [pdf]   (3,800)
  18. Watts, P. and S.T., Grilli 1998 Predicted Wave Amplitudes from Simulated Underwater Landslide Wavemaker Curves. Okushiri Tsunami/UJNR Workshop, Sapporo, Japan.
  19. Watts, P., Synolakis, C.E., and S.T., Grilli 1998 Simulation of an Underwater Landslide Scenario for the 1998 Papua New Guinea Event. Fall AGU Meeting, San Francisco.
  20. Grilli, S.T., Svendsen, I.A. and Subramanya, R. 1998 Closure of : Breaking Criterion and Characteristics for Solitary Waves on Slopes. Journal of Waterway Port Coastal and Ocean Engineering, 124 (6), 333-335.
  21. Watts, P., Borrero, J.C. , Tappin, D.R., Bardet, J.-P., S.T., Grilli, and C.E., Synolakis 1999 Novel Simulation Technique Employed on PNG Event. 22nd General Assembly IUGG, Birmingham, England.
  22. Grilli, S.T., Watts, P., Guignard, S. and C.E. Synolakis 1999 Wave amplitude and runup predictions for tsunamis generated by underwater landslides. EOS Transactions AGU, 46, F549.
  23. Tappin, D.R., Watts, P., Borrero, J.,Bardet, J.-P., Grilli, S.T. and C.E. Synolakis 1999 Submarine slump generation of the 1998 Papua New Guinea tsunami : the evidence so far. EOS Transactions AGU, 46, F750.
  24. Grilli, S.T. and Watts, P. 1999 Modeling of waves generated by a moving submerged body. Applications to underwater landslides. Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements, 23, 645-656.    [pdf]  (318K).
  25. Grilli, S.T., Guyenne, P. and F., Dias. 2000 Numerical computation of 3D overturning waves. Abstract in Proc. 15th Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bodies(Dan Caesarea, Israel, February 2000), 4pps [pdf]  (140K).
  26. Grilli, S.T., Guyenne, P. and Dias, F. 2000 Modeling of overturning waves over arbitrary bottom in a 3D numerical wave tank. In In Proc. 10th Offshore and Polar Engng. Conf. (ISOPE00, Seattle, USA, May 2000), Vol. III, 221-228   [compressed postcript]  (104K).
  27. Watts, P., Imamura, F., and Grilli, S.T. 2000 Comparing Model Simulations of Three Benchmark Tsunami Generation Cases. J. Science Tsunami Hazards, 18(2), 107-123    [pdf]  (412K).
  28. Grilli, S.T., Guyenne, P. and Dias, F. 2001 A fully nonlinear model for three-dimensional overturning waves over arbitrary bottom. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids, 35(7), 829-867.   [pdf]  (737K).
  29. Grilli, S.T. and Watts, Ph. 2001 Modeling of tsunami generation by an underwater landslide in a 3D-NWT. In Proc. 11th Offshore and Polar Engng. Conf. (ISOPE01, Stavanger, Norway, June 2001), Vol III, 132-139 [pdf]  (549K).
  30. Grilli, S.T., Vogelmann, S. and Watts, P. 2002 Landslide tsunami amplitude prediction in a numerical wave tank. In Proc. 4th Intl. Symp. on Ocean Wave Measurement and Analysis (WAVES 2001, San Francisco, USA, Sept. 2001) 1,495-1,504, ASCE Publication    [pdf]  (616K).
  31. Watts, P., Imamura, F., Bengston, A. and Grilli, S.T. 2002 Benchmark cases for tsunamis generated by underwater landslides. In Proc. 4th Intl. Symp. on Ocean Wave Measurement and Analysis (WAVES 2001, San Francisco, USA, Sept. 2001) 1,505-1,514, ASCE Publication.
  32. Grilli, S.T., Vogelmann, S. and Watts, P. 2002 Development of a 3D Numerical Wave Tank for modeling tsunami generation by underwater landslides. Engng. Analysis Boundary Elemt. 26(4), 301-313    [pdf]  (1,061K).
  33. Enet, F, Grilli, S.T. and Watts, P., 2003. Laboratory Experiments for Tsunamis Generated by Underwater Landslides: Comparison with Numerical Modeling. In Proc. 13th Offshore and Polar Engng. Conf. (ISOPE03, Honolulu, USA, May 2003), 372-379. [pdf]  (3,400K)
  34. Watts, P. and Grilli, S.T., 2003. Tsunami Generation by Deformable Underwater Landslides. In Proc. 13th Offshore and Polar Engng. Conf. (ISOPE03, Honolulu, USA, May 2003), 364-371. [pdf]  (280K)
  35. Watts, S. T. Grilli, J. T. Kirby, G. J. Fryer, and Tappin, D. R. 2003. Landslide tsunami case studies using a Boussinesq model and a fully nonlinear tsunami generation model. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 3, 391-402. [pdf]  (1,200K)
  36. Grilli, S.T., Gilbert, R., Lubin, P., Vincent, S., Legendre, D., Duvam, M., Kimmoun, O., Branger, H., Devrard, D., Fraunie, P., Abadie, S. 2004 Numerical modeling and experiments for solitary wave shoaling and breaking over a sloping beach. In Proc. 14th Offshore and Polar Engng. Conf. (ISOPE04, Toulon, France, May 2004), 306-312. [pdf]  (472K).
  37. Biausser B., S.T. Grilli, Fraunie P. and Marcer, R. 2004. Numerical analysis of the internal kinematics and dynamics of three-dimensional breaking waves on slopes. Intl. J. Offshore and Polar Engng., 14(4), 247-256.   [pdf]  (5,000K).
  38. Day, S. J. , P. Watts, S. T. Grilli and Kirby, J.T. 2005. Mechanical Models of the 1975 Kalapana, Hawaii Earthquake and Tsunami. Marine Geology, 215(1-2), 59-92.   [pdf]  (1,900K).
  39. Helluy Ph., Golay F., Caltagirone J.-P., Lubin P., Vincent S., Drevard D., Marcer R., Seguin N., Grilli S., Lesage A.-C. and Dervieux A. 2005. Numerical simulations of wave breaking. Math. Modeling and Numer. Analys. , 39(3), 591-607. [pdf]  (372K).
  40. Enet F. and Grilli S.T., 2005. Tsunami Landslide Generation: Modelling and Experiments. In Proc. 5th Intl. on Ocean Wave Measurement and Analysis (WAVES 2005, Madrid, Spain, July 2005), IAHR Publication, paper 88, 10 pps.    [pdf]  (768K).
  41. Watts P., Ioulalen M., Grilli S.T., F. Shi and Kirby J.T., 2005. Numerical Simulation of the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami using a Higher-order Boussinesq Model. In Proc. 5th Intl. on Ocean Wave Measurement and Analysis (WAVES 2005, Madrid, Spain, July 2005), IAHR Publication, paper 221, 10 pps.    [pdf]  (988K).
  42. Devrard D., Marcer R., Grilli S.T., Fraunie P. and Rey V., 2005. Experimental Validation of a Coupled BEM-Navier-Stokes Model for Solitary Wave Shoaliing and Breaking. In Proc. 5th Intl. on Ocean Wave Measurement and Analysis (WAVES 2005, Madrid, Spain, July 2005), IAHR Publication, paper 166, 10 pps.    [pdf]  (300K).
  43. Grilli, S.T. and P. Watts. Tsunami generation by submarine mass failure Part I : Modeling, experimental validation, and sensitivity analysis. J. Waterway Port Coastal and Ocean Engineering, 131(6), 283-297.    [pdf]  (8,800K).
  44. Watts, P., Grilli, S.T., Tappin and Fryer, G.J. Tsunami generation by submarine mass failure Part II : Predictive Equations and case studies. J. Waterway Port Coastal and Ocean Engineering, 131(6), 298-310.    [pdf]  (1,002K).
  45. Guyenne, P. and Grilli, S.T. 2006. Numerical study of three-dimensional overturning waves in shallow water. J. Fluid Mechanics 547, 361-388.    [pdf]  (1,600K).
  46. Dalrymple, R.A., Grilli S.T. and J.T. Kirby 2006. Tsunamis and challenges for accurate modeling. Oceanography, 19(1), 142-151.    [pdf]  (632K).
  47. Abadie, S., Grilli, S.T. and Glockner, S. 2007. A coupled numerical model for tsunamis generated by subaerial and submarine mass failures. In Proc. 30th Intl. Conf. on Coastal Engineering (ICCE30, San Diego, California, September 2006), 1420-1431. [pdf]  (2.6M).
  48. Grilli, S.T. and C.D. Baxter, 2006. Numerical Simulation of Tsunami HazardMaps for the US East Coast. Summary of Key Results. FM Global Project, 16pps.
  49. Grilli, S.T., Baxter, C.D.P., Maretzki, S., Perignon, Y. and Gemme, D. 2006. Numerical simulation of tsunami hazard maps for the US East Coast. Report of Year 1 project. FM Global Project, 34 pps.
  50. Grilli, S.T., Ioualalen, M, Asavanant, J., Shi, F., Kirby, J. and Watts, P. 2007. Source Constraints and Model Simulation of the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Journal of Waterway Port Coastal and Ocean Engineering , 133(6), 414-428. [pdf]  (6.2M).
  51. Enet, F. and Grilli, S.T. 2007. Experimental Study of Tsunami Generation by Three-dimensional Rigid Underwater Landslides. Journal of Waterway Port Coastal and Ocean Engineering, 133(6), 442-454. [pdf]  (6M).
  52. Asavanant, J., Ioualalen, M., Kaewbanjak, N., Grilli, S.T., Watts, P., Kirby, J.T. and F. Shi 2007. Numerical Simulation of the December 26,2004: Indian Ocean Tsunami. In Proc. Intl. Conf. on High Performance Scientific Computing (Hanoi, Vietnam, 3/2006).
  53. Ioualalen, M. , Asavanant, J., Kaewbanjak, N., Grilli, S.T., Kirby, J.T. and P. Watts 2007. Modeling the 26th December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami: Case study of impact in Thailand. Journal of Geophysical Research , 112, C07024, doi:10.1029/2006JC003850 [pdf]  (11M).
  54. Maretzki, S., Grilli, S.T. and Baxter, D.P. 2007. Probabilistic SMF Tsunami Hazard Assessment for the upper East Coast of the United States. In Proc. 3rd Intl. Symp. on Submarine Mass Movements and their Consequences (Santorini, Greece, October 2007) (Santorini, Greece, October 2007) (Lykousis, V., Sakellariou, D., Locat, J., eds), Springer, 377-386. [pdf]  (2.2M).
  55. Bradshaw, A.S., Baxter, C.D.P., Taylor, O-D.S. and Grilli, S.T. 2007. Role of Soil Behavior on the Initial Kinematics of Tsunamigenic Slides. In Proc. 3rd Intl. Symp. on Submarine Mass Movements and their Consequences (Santorini, Greece, October 2007) (Lykousis, V., Sakellariou, D., Locat, J., eds), Springer, 387-394. [pdf]  (144K).
  56. Grilli, S.T., Dubosq, S., Saillard, M. and Branger, H., 2007. UHF radar signature of a tsunami approaching coastal areas: modeling, experiments and application to tsunami warning, EOS Trans. AGU, 88(52), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract S43C-04.
  57. Abadie, S., Morichon, D., Grilli, S.T. and Glockner, S. 2008. VOF/Navier-Stokes numerical modeling of surface waves generated by subaerial landslides. La Houille Blanche, 1 (Feb. 2008), 21-26, doi:10.1051/lhb:2008001. [pdf]  (0.23M).
  58. Tappin, D.R., Watts, P., Grilli, S.T. 2008. The Papua New Guinea tsunami of 1998: anatomy of a catastrophic event. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 8, 243-266. www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/8/243/2008/ [pdf]  (4.7M).
  59. Taylor, O.-D.S., Bradshaw, A.S., Baxter,, C.D.P., and S.T. Grilli 2008. The Effects of Basal Resistance and Hydroplaning on the Initial Kinematics of Seismically Induced Tsunamigenic Landslides. In Proc. GeoCongress 2008. [pdf]  (316K).
  60. Watts, S. T. Grilli and J. T. Kirby . Tsunami warning opportunities at Skagway, Alaska based on water wave records. J. Science Tsunami Hazards (in revision).
  61. Fryer, G.J., Watts, P., Grilli, S.T., and Kirby, J.T. Source Constraints on the Eastern Aleutian Tsunami of 1946, Journal of Geophysical Research (in revision).
  62. Grilli, S.T. , Taylor, O.-D. S., Baxter, D.P. and Maretzki, S., Probabilistic approach for determining submarine landslide tsunami hazard along the upper East Coast of the United States. Marine Geology (submitted).
  63. Abadie, S., Morichon, D., Grilli, S.T. and Glockner, S. A three-fluid model to simulate waves generated by subaerial landslides. Coastal Engineering (submitted).

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