Surf‐Similarity Parameter for Breaking Solitary‐Wave Runup

Abstract

The existing one‐dimensional time‐dependent numerical model developed for predicting regular‐ and irregular‐wave dynamics on slopes is expanded to predict breaking solitary‐wave runup on smooth uniform slopes. For an efficient comparison of the expanded numerical model, with a large number of available laboratory tests, the dimensionless parameters involved in the problem are identified using the normalized governing equations and incident solitary‐wave profile. The representative solitary‐wave period and associated surf‐similarity parameter are introduced to examine the similarity and difference between solitary and regular waves. The breaking, runup, and reflection of solitary and regular waves are qualitatively similar in terms of the surf‐similarity parameter. For given surf‐similarity parameter, breaking solitary‐wave runup is definitely larger than breaking regular‐wave runup affected by the interaction between wave uprush and downrush. The numerical model is shown to be capable of predicting the measured variation of the runup normalized by the incident solitary wave height as a function of the surf‐similarity parameter.