Application of Delft3D-WAVE in the investigation of the typhoon-induced high wave in Central Vietnam

Abstract

With a long coastline of around 3260 km, tropical typhoons induce the deadliest disasters in Central Vietnam’s highly populated coastal area. The focus of this paper is two-fold. The first objective is to investigate the feasibility of utilizing Delft3D-WAVE in forecasting typhoon-induced high wave events in Central Vietnam. By running a WRF model simultaneously in multiple domains with different grid resolutions, wind field distribution data during typhoon events were reproduced. Using the generated wind field data, typhoon Kaemi (2000) was employed as the case study to calibrate and validate the wave models. Comparisons between simulated results and observed data showed a good agreement, especially during peak wave height. The combined wind-wave model was applied to estimate the temporal and spatial impacts of high waves caused by the typhoon Ketsana (2009). The second objective is to assess the potetial risk from typhoon-induced wave in Central Vietnam based on the models output. From these results, this study recommends the application of Delft3D-WAVE to investigate high waves induced by typhoon events in Vietnam’s coastal areas.