FY 2009 Predicting run-up of breaking and nonbreaking long waves by applying the Cornell COMCOT model Zhou, H., M.H. Teng, P. Lin, E. Gica, and K. Feng In Nonlinear Wave Dynamics: Selected Papers of the Symposium Held in Honor of Philip L.-F. Liu's 60th Birthday, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 147-161 (2009) The present numerical and experimental study examines the performance of the Cornell COMCOT tsunami model developed under the direction of Professor Philip L.-F. Liu. The 2-D depth-averaged model was initially developed for nonbreaking wave run-up as it did not include an empirical term approximating the energy dissipation due to wave breaking. In this study, numerical simulations based on the 2-D model of both breaking and nonbreaking wave run-up were performed. The results were then compared with the experimental results (Synolakis [1], Feng [2]) and also with the results based on a more advanced depth-resolving RANS model for breaking waves developed by Lin et al. [3,4] with good agreement. An analysis of the numerical scheme used by COMCOT revealed that the truncation error has the similar effect as the empirical diffusion term typically used for simulating energy dissipation caused by wave breaking for depth-averaged models, thus eliminating the need to include this additional term in the COMCOT model. A verification of the COMCOT model against a historical tsunami event is also presented. The results show that the COMCOT model is a simple yet effective model for predicting both breaking and nonbreaking wave run-up for practical applications. Feature Publications | Outstanding Scientific Publications Contact Sandra Bigley | Help
