Power and Scour: Laboratory simulations of tsunami-induced scour

The world’s coastal regions are becoming increasingly urbanised and densely populated. Recent major tsunami
events in regions such as Samoa (2007), Indonesia (2004, 2006, 2010), and Japan (2011) have starkly highlighted
this effect, resulting in catastrophic loss of both life and property, with much of the damage to buildings being
reported in EEFIT mission reports following each of these events.
The URBANWAVES project, led by UCL in collaboration with HR Wallingford, brings the power of the
tsunami to the laboratory for the first time. The Pneumatic Tsunami Simulator is capable of tsimulating both
idealised and real-world tsunami traces at a scale of 1:50.
Experiments undertaken in the Fast Flow Facility at HR Wallingford using square and rectangular buildings placed
on a sediment bed have allow us to measure, for the first time under laboratory conditions, the variations in the
flow field around buildings produced by tsunami waves as a result of the scour process.
The results of these tests are presented, providing insight into the process of scour development under different
types of tsunami, giving a glimpse into the power of tsunamis that have already occurred, and helping us to
inform the designs of future buildings so that we can be better prepared to analyse and design against these failure
modes in the future.