Author(s): Hongwei Liu; Mohamed S. Ghidaoui
Linked Author(s): Mohamed S. Ghidaoui
Keywords: Coastal waves; Coral reefs; Beach defense; Tsunami
Abstract: Coral reef has the effects of significant buffering of the tsunami impact, which has been suggested by limited observations and numerical model simulations. It is also believed that the man-made or natural gaps in a coral reef create funnels for the tsunami energy, resulting in significantly enhanced wave heights and water inundations as well as greater run-up there. The effects of coral reef on tsunami runups are numerically investigated by solving the nonlinear shallow water equations in this paper. The numerical results support the notion that coral reefs can provide shoreline protection against tsunami waves, the effectiveness of this protection depends on many ingredients, for example the wave amplitude, wave length, the geometry and health of the coral reef. The gap in the reef may increase the destruction behind it significantly, and reducing the threat to the reef both globally and locally would help to protect coastal assets and ecosystems.
Year: 2010