Scaling laws for swash overtopping, the motion at a tsunami wave front and sediment transport by dam-break flows

Swash overtopping experiments and theory are discussed, with a focus on the work of Peregrine and Williams (J. Fluid Mech., 2001). Data for monochromatic, solitary waves and solitary bores are presented and compared with theory.  Analogies with dam-break flows are also discussed. Different models for overtopping are reconciled in terms of the volume flu in the incident wave and the vertical scale is explained from simple swash hydrodynamic theory.

The behaviour of the flow at the leading edge of a viscous swash front wave is illustrated, showing a convergence of the flow that is relevant to the bed shears stress and debris build-up at the leading edge of dam-break flows and tsunami.

The empirical transport relationships of Bagnold (1980, 1986) are revisited, and the dependency of the transport rate on grain size is derived by dimensional analysis and compared to experiments.

Bio:

Tom Baldock is a Professor in the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland. He is a hydraulic and coastal engineer and is a member of the Australian National Committee on Coastal and Ocean Engineering. His main research focus is surf zone and swash zone hydrodynamics and sediment transport, both experimental and field, for application to wave run-up and coastal inundation, tsunami, beach erosion and coral reef processes, and how these may change with projected sea level rise.