A disastrous tsunami struck North Sumatra, Indonesia and many other countries on
December 26, 2004. In response to this disaster, we develop a two-dimensional
numerical model to simulate tsunami propagation on the open sea. Tsunami
propagation — a process during which the wave has a relatively small height
compared to its breadth — is modeled using the shallow water equations. To solve
these equations, our model employs the characteristic-based split method
first introduced by Zienkiewicz. Four case studies are proposed to verify the
numerical model, and our results show that the present numerical model is
both accurate and efficient. The numerical model is then used to model the
propagation of the tsunami of December 26, 2004, and gives a relatively close
result.
Keywords
tsunami propagation, shallow water equations, finite
element method, characteristic-based split method