ISEC Community Workshop:
Simulation & Large-Scale Testing of Nearshore Wave Dynamics
July 8-10, 2009 - Corvallis, Oregon


Agenda with links to presentation slides

Visit the archive of past workshops related to inundation studies

Benchmark
 
Wave basin

ISEC and the NEES Tsunami Research Facility co-sponsored a summer workshop that focused on the interaction between simulation and large-scale testing for understanding nearshore wave dynamics. Participants were alos given a comprehensive overview of the Tsunami Research Facility equipment systems, and their operation and testing capabilities. This was a unique opportunity to

In the first part of the workshop, participants were introduced to the experimental capabilities of the Tsunami Research Facility. This included presentations/discussions of the design and capabilities of the new piston wavemaker installed in the Large Wave Flume, and new measurement capabilities. Participants also gained an understanding of how the 3D wavemaker in the Tsunami Wave Basin and the new 2D wavemaker in the Large Wave Flume can be used to test structural specimens and validate analytical and numerical models.

The second part of the workshop focused on development and application of numerical models. The developers of COULWAVE, SPHysics, and ADCIRC - three community modeling packages available free of charge from ISEC's Models Repository - discussed the capabilities of their models and how to use them most effectively.

In the months leading up to the workshop, modelers were challenged to run one of our Nearshore Wave Benchmark Problems. The first involved a simple beach setup, and came complete with empirical data gathered during large-scale tests at the Tsunami Research Facility last year. The second problem was more challenging in two ways: it included an island feature; and empirical data were not yet available. Tests were performed just prior to the workshop to extract physical data at points corresponding to the measurement points used by the modelers. Participants presented an overview of each model and its results, with general discussion about the merits of different approaches.

The workshop and the benchmark challenge were open to researchers and practicing engineers. The cyberinfrastructure of both NEES and ISEC was used to allow virtual participation by people who couldn't travel to Corvallis. ISEC's discussion groups were used to talk about the benchmark problems and parameters in advance, and modelers submitted numerical results through the ISEC website. During the workshop itself, ISEC's virtual meeting capabilities allowed off-site people to participate in discussions, and NEES's telepresence features allowed them to watch the experimental trials in real time.

More about the benchmark problems... The purpose of the benchmark problems was to examine relatively small scale and local flow dynamics resulting from tsunami evolution over irregular shallow water bathymetry. Specifically, a tsunami-like long wave was passed over a 3D shelf, mimicking a continental shelf (Problem 1). Problem 2 added the complexity of an island feature located on the shelf; it was anticipated that an unsteady wake would form behind the island, which as the flow oscillates, would lead to the shedding of energetic eddies. See the benchmark website.