Tsunamis are among the most devastating and complex natural disasters, affecting coastal regions worldwide. Tsunami waves are generated through many natural phenomena, such as earthquakes, landslides, and volcanic eruptions. The waves travel at high speeds away from the source, potentially affecting multiple countries with very little warning. Over the past several decades, tsunamis such as the 2004 Indian Ocean, the 2010 Chilean, and the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami served as reminders of the potential devastation of these natural disasters, resulting in tragic loss of life and billions of dollars in damages. Forensic engineering field investigations and subsequent analysis of these events have demonstrated that infrastructure in these tsunami-prone regions was not adequately prepared for the extreme forces associated with a tsunami. As a result, there has been an increased research emphasis worldwide on the planning and design of infrastructure located in tsunami-prone areas to be better prepared for such future events.
The present study aims to experimentally investigate and analyze the motion of debris carried by an inundating tsunami flood. One of the previous challenges involved in the evaluation of debris motion during such events was a lack of experimental methods that could non-invasively, quickly and accurately track the motion of debris at high velocities. This study introduces two innovative methods of tracking the debris. The first one used a novel camera-based tracking algorithm, while the second used Bluetooth and Inertial Measurement Unit sensors to track the debris within the inundating tsunami flood. The study outlines, for the first time, the technology and methods involved in the two tracking methods as it used both dry-test and wet-test experiments to evaluate the applicability of these methods in coastal and hydraulic engineering.
This study used these two methods to evaluate the motion of debris from experiments conducted in a new Tsunami Wave Basin commissioned recently at Waseda University (Tokyo, Japan). The study examined the effect of the initial positioning of the debris, particularly focusing on the spreading area of the debris (determining thus their maximum displacement and the spreading angle of the debris). The results showed that an increase in the number of the debris resulted in an increase in the spreading angle of the debris and a decrease in the displacement of the debris. The increased number of debris also added significantly more variation in the final resting position of the debris due to the increased debris-debris collisions. The initial orientation of the debris also affected debris motion, particularly influencing the peak velocity of the debris and the distance from the initial debris resting position to where the peak velocity was observed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/34959 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Stolle, Jacob |
| Contributors | Nistor, Ioan |
| Publisher | Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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