Tsunami wave loading on buildings: a simplified approach

Abstract

The simplest way the magnitude of a tsunami can be expressed is based on its wave height or depth of inundation at a given coastline. This can be used to derive the tsunami load on structure at the same location. This paper aims to discuss such a simple, but realistic tsunami loading scheme and a dynamic analysis method to evaluate a given structure using it. A case study of a school building located in the South Eastern coast of Sri Lanka is used in this research not only to demonstrate how this can be done successfully but also to resolve several issues associated with tsunami loading that exists among researchers today. The total tsunami load is expressed as a combination of different components that have particular distributions with respect to time and space. These are applied on a 2D R/C frame from the case study and both static and dynamic time history analysis is performed to quantify tsunami damage in terms of hinge formation. Impact of modeling input and assumptions on the dynamic analysis results is also discussed. This research shows how the impulse load is the decisive component of the tsunami load. The suggested total tsunami load is 2.5 pgh2 where h is the tsunami wave height.