Tsunami Surges on Dry Coastal Plains: Application of Dam Break Wave Equations

Surge waves resulting from dam breaks have been responsible for numerous losses of life. A related situation is the tsunami surges advancing on dry coastal plains. Herein a simple dam break wave solution is presented. The results yield some simple expressions of the instantaneous free-surface profile and flow depths that compare well with well-known dam break wave data. The results are applied to tsunami surges on dry coastal plains and compared with some data set. The present development offers simple analytical expressions that compare well with both experimental data and more advanced theoretical solutions, and that are further well-suited for pedagogical purposes, computational model validation, and accurate real-time predictions of tsunami surges.