Tsunami generator copies wave behaviour

The simulator has copied the behaviour of the first massive wave of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

Developed and built with Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funding, the tsunami generator will improve understanding of how tsunamis behave. This will aid the development of more effective evacuation guidelines for parts of the world potentially at risk from future tsunamis. It will also help improve the design of buildings in susceptible areas so they are better able to withstand the impact of such events.

The new facility has been developed jointly by EPICENTRE (the Earthquake and People Interaction Centre), based at University College London (UCL), and consulting engineering company HR Wallingford, at whose headquarters it is located.

Mounted in a 45m-long wave channel, the tsunami generator uses a pneumatic system to suck up water into a tank and then release it in a controlled way. This makes the facility fundamentally different from all other wave simulators worldwide, which generally use pistons to produce waves.