The runup of solitary waves

This is a study of the runup of solitary waves on plane beaches. An approximate theory is presented for non-breaking waves and an asymptotic result is derived for the maximum runup of solitary waves. A series of laboratory experiments is described to support the theory. It is shown that the linear t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of fluid mechanics 1987-12, Vol.185, p.523-545
Main Author: Synolakis, Costas Emmanuel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Exact sciences and technology
Fluid dynamics
Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications)
Hydrodynamic waves
Physics
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Summary:This is a study of the runup of solitary waves on plane beaches. An approximate theory is presented for non-breaking waves and an asymptotic result is derived for the maximum runup of solitary waves. A series of laboratory experiments is described to support the theory. It is shown that the linear theory predicts the maximum runup satisfactorily, and that the nonlinear theory describes the climb of solitary waves equally well. Different runup regimes are found to exist for the runup of breaking and non-breaking waves. A breaking criterion is derived for determining whether a solitary wave will break as it climbs up a sloping beach, and a different criterion is shown to apply for determining whether a wave will break during rundown. These results are used to explain some of the existing empirical runup relationships.
ISSN:0022-1120
1469-7645
DOI:10.1017/S002211208700329X