Quantifying Effects of Explicit Representation of Buildings in Tsunami Inundation Simulations

Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103277(external link)

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A collaborative research involving BTW researcher Xiaoming Wang, was recently in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. This study used the researcher's recent developments on super high resolution inundation modelling to explicitly include individual buildings in tsunami inundation modelling.

In traditional inundation modelling approach, all ground surface buildings are completed removed from the topographic data and their effects on tsunami are approximated by ground surface roughness in friction models. The study finds that in urban areas buildings could significantly influence tsunami flow patterns that cannot be accurately captured by the traditional modelling approach. Consequently, the traditional modelling approach could greatly underestimate a key tsunami hazard intensity measure - flow depth, especially in areas closer to the coast. This influence will then subsequently affect the accuracy of tsunami direct loss estimates that typically use flow depth as the key parameter in fragility models linking flow depth to building damage status.