Analysis of Large Ship Drifting Motion by the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake Tsunami in Kesennuma Harbor, Miyagi Prefecture

Abstract

Many drifting ships were found in the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake tsunami and these caused various problems.This study aims to simulate the drifting motion of ships caused by the 2011 tsunami in Kesennuma harbor, Miyagi Prefecture. First, we simulated the hydrodynamic features of the 2011 tsunami by numerical simulation. Secondly, we analyzed the drifting motion of large ships using the result of tsunami numerical simulation. In the analysis, several test cases were conducted by changing parameters and initial positions of the ships. Then we verified the results of the ship drifting simulation by comparing with their actual grounding positions. Throughout the comparisons and verifications, we found the grounding position by the simulation was generally consistent with actual position of ships.