Experimental investigation on near‐field edge wave run‐ups generated by landslides in narrow reservoirs

Abstract

Edge waves generated by subaerial landslide‐tsunamis (SLTs) often have potentially huge amplitudes that can endanger human lives, offshore structures, coastal cities and port facilities around reservoirs. Maximum edge wave run‐up (RuM) is the most important parameter for SLT hazard mitigation in an engineering context. This study aimed to investigate the effects of the hill slope angle α on RuM, the first edge wave run‐up Ru1 and the first edge wave decay in the near field Ru1(r/h) through 84 laboratory experiments, which were conducted in a three‐dimensional river channel with α values varying from 15° to 40°. For smaller α values, we found that RuM increased with the increase in α while for large α values exceeding 30°, RuM decreased with the increase in α. An empirical equation considering the effect of α was proposed for the prediction of RuM in the near field, which was well verified by a real case. Additionally, the first edge wave run‐up decay along the shore is also discussed in this paper. This work could have some favourable implications for the preliminary hazard assessment of SLTs.