TSUNAMI LOADS ON A BUILDING STRUCTURE WITH DOWNSTREAM OBSTRUCTIONS

Abstract

In previous studies, the dam-break type hydraulic experiments and computational fluid dynamics have been conducted to clarify the characteristics of tsunami loads acting on a building with an upstream obstruction. We found that the tsunami force acting on the model behind the obstruction is smaller than that acting on the isolated model, while the tsunami force acting on the model parallel to the obstruction is larger than that acting on the isolated model. However, the effect of downstream obstructions on the tsunami force of the building was not discussed. It is possible that the tsunami force acting on the building decreases in the case of the building structure with downstream obstructions, because that the tsunami water enters between the building and obstructions, and then the water height behind the building raises, exerting the force from rear to push the building. Therefore, this paper investigates the fundamental characteristics of the tsunami force acting on the building with downstream obstructions by using hydraulic experiments and computational fluid dynamics.