Numerical Analyses on the Formation, Propagation, and Deformation of Landslide Tsunami Using LS-DYNA and NWT

Abstract

Generally, tsunamis are generated by the rapid crustal movements of the ocean floor. Other factors of tsunami generation include landslides on coastal and ocean floor slopes, glacier collapses, and meteorite collisions. In this study, two numerical analyses were conducted to examine the formation, propagation, and deformation properties of landslide tsunamis. First, LS-DYNA was adopted to simulate the formation and propagation processes of tsunamis generated by dropping rigid bodies. The generated tsunamis had smaller wave heights and wider waveforms during their propagation, and their waveforms and flow velocities resembled those of theoretical solitary waves after a certain distance. Second, after the formation of the landslide tsunami, a tsunami based on the solitary wave approximation theory was generated in a numerical wave tank (NWT) with a computational domain that considered the stability/steady phase. The comparison of two numerical analysis results over a certain distance indicated that the waveform and flow velocity were approximately equal, and the maximum wave pressures acting on the upright wall also exhibited similar distributions. Therefore, an effective numerical model such as LS-DYNA was necessary to analyze the formation and initial deformations of the landslide tsunami, while an NWT with the wave generation method based on the solitary wave approximation theory was sufficient above a certain distance.