APPLICABILITY OF THE NLSW EQUATIONS FOR RUN-UP EVALUATION OVER COASTS WITH QUASI-VERTICAL BSTACLES

Th evaluation of flooding risk over low but densely inhabited coasts involves the computation of run-up over coastal cross sections with a generally mild slope occasionally interrupted by elatively low vertical or nearly vertical obstacles such as buildings Most of the commonly used formulas are not suitable when the run up has to be computed well after vertical or near vertical obstacles such as are frequently encountered on realistic shore configurations. There is thus an obvious need for a flexible tool to calculate run up over complex slopes with steep obstacles along it, and the object of the paper is to inquire into the possibilities and the limits of a computational approach based on NLSW integration Results show that a NLSW solver can be safely applied to this kind of problems as long as the height of the obstacles does not exceed the offshore wave height. Once the proper calibration is carried out NLSW techniques can be developed to become a useful tool for large scale coastal risk analysis

Keywords:

Run-up , non linear shallow water equations , coastal risk analysis , coastal zone