NUMERICAL ANALYSIS ON TSUNAMI INDUCED FLUID FORCES ACTING ON TRUNK AND BRANCH ELEMENTS OF COASTAL TREES

Abstract

 Recently, utilizing coastal forests as a countermeasure against tsunamis attracts coastal engineers and practitioners, because they have concurrent benefits both for disaster mitigation and environmental preservation. If tsunami force exceeds the physical strength of trees, breakings of the trunk and branches occur, which may reduce the mitigation ability against tsunamis. This paper conducts numerical analyses on the dynamic response and internal stress of the tree elements under tsunami fluid forces.