Blind-Test Numerical Simulation of Tsunami Wave Pressure Acting on a Land Structure

The prediction performance of numerical models of tsunami wave pressure on land structures was investigated using blind tests. Two types of numerical models were used, based on the volume-of-fluid (VOF) method. Both models reproduced the experimental results well for water-level time series. For wave-pressure time series, some differences were observed between the two models in the vertical distribution of wave pressure during the initial rise. In both models, however, the experimental results showed that overall trends for total wave force were in good agreement. The experimental results produced a value slightly higher than the maximum wave force, suggesting that caution is needed when designing structures to ensure that wave force is not underestimated.