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

New! Participating Remotely
New! Agenda

Visit the archive of past workshops related to inundation studies

Benchmark
 
Wave basin

New! Agenda
New! Participating Remotely

ISEC and the NEES Tsunami Research Facility are co-sponsoring a summer workshop that will focus on the interaction between simulation and large-scale testing for understanding nearshore wave dynamics. Participants will also gain a comprehensive overview of the Tsunami Research Facility equipment systems, and their operation and testing capabilities. This is a unique opportunity to

In the first part of the workshop, participants will be introduced to the experimental capabilities of the Tsunami Research Facility. This will include presentations/discussions of the design and capabilities of the new piston wavemaker installed in the Large Wave Flume, and new measurement capabilities. Participants will also gain 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 will focus 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 - will discuss the capabilities of their models and how to use them most effectively.

In the months leading up to the workshop, modelers are challenged to run one of our Nearshore Wave Benchmark Problems. The first involves a simple beach setup, and comes complete with empirical data gathered during large-scale tests at the Tsunami Research Facility last year. The second problem is more challenging in two ways: it includes an island feature; and empirical data are not yet available. Tests will be performed just prior to the workshop to extract physical data at points corresponding to the measurement points used by the modelers. Participants will present an overview of each model and its results, with general discussion about the merits of different approaches. The workshop and the benchmark challenge are open to all researchers. The cyberinfrastructure of both NEES and ISEC will be used to allow virtual participation by people who can't travel to Corvallis. ISEC's discussion groups will be used to talk about the benchmark problems and parameters in advance, and modelers will submit numerical results through the ISEC website. During the workshop itself, ISEC's virtual meeting capabilities will allow off-site people to participate in discussions, and NEES's telepresence features will allow them to watch the experimental trials in real time.

Following the workshop, ISEC will develop an EOS paper based on the benchmarking problems and including the participants as coauthors.

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

Interested in attending? Sorry, but registration for physical attendance has filled.

Interested in participating remotely? All you need to participate is a web browser (preferably Firefox or Internet Explorer) and Internet connection. We ask virtual attendees to register just as physical ones do (starting early may). Let us know you're interested and we'll send you an email notification.