NEESR Payload: Dissipation of Long-Wave Energy by Discontinuous Macro-Roughness Representing Forested Areas

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This award is an outcome of the NSF 09-524 program solicitation ?George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) Research (NEESR)? competition and includes Texas A&M University (Texas Engineering Experiment Station). This project will utilize the NEES equipment site at Oregon State University, namely the NEES Tsunami Wave Basin. Tsunamis are classified as long waves. These waves are generated by earthquakes and landslides, among other mechanisms. Tsunami waves travel rapidly inland, reaching high elevations, i.e., runup. These events can devastate entire communities and regions, as seen during the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004. Tsunamis can cause widespread damage to homes, buildings, and other structures, and they can have long-lasting socioeconomic consequences. The project goal is to learn how tsunami waves respond to patches of macro-roughness. For example, how do patches of forest next to open land reduce the force of tsunami waves and change the landward distance tsunami waves travel? Two objectives will be pursued. Objective 1 is to understand the effects of macro-roughness patches on long-wave energy dissipation, refraction, and shadowing. Objective 2 is to investigate the effects of long-wave propagation in patches of macro-roughness on flow pathways and wave runup variation.Expected research outcomes include: (1) long-wave energy dissipation as a function of macro-roughness coverage and (2) long-wave runup as a function of macro-roughness geometry. These datasets will reveal physics of long-wave propagation over complex sea bottoms. The above outcomes will lead to improved treatment of macro-roughness in models used to predict tsunami inundation. These outcomes will also lead to improved quantification of tsunami wave forces on buildings and other structures at the coast.The research outcomes will have broad scientific impacts. They will contribute to the state-of-knowledge for flows, for example, through mangrove fields, upland forests, and wetlands. They will also be readily transferred to both the storm surge and tsunami inundation problems impacting society at large. The educational outcomes will have broad impacts by reaching both secondary school and collegiate students via hands-on educational activities, among other programs, already established at the NEES Tsunami Wave Basin Equipment Site. In addition to supporting one Ph.D. student at Texas A&M University, up to three undergraduates will participate in this project through the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates and Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation programs.Data from this project will be archived and made available to the public through the NEES data repository.