RAPSODI - tsunami risk resilience

RAPSODI (Risk Assessment and design of Prevention Structures fOr enhanced tsunami DIsaster resilience) focuses on the quantitative assessment of vulnerability and analyzing loads on structures. The project will involve extensive knowledge exchange between the partners to promote and develop new and innovative solutions.

Project description

In RAPSODI, the huge amount of field data and experience gained from the Tohoku 2011 tsunami will be used to understand better the overall vulnerability to tsunamis and the specific mechanisms that lead to or contribute to the collapse of buildings and infrastructure as well as the performance of selected coastal structures.

Based on the findings from the Tohoku 2011 tsunami, a tsunami risk assessment model will be developed.

The development of the model includes the application and validation of numerical models, laboratory analysis, the subsequent derivation of empirical relations for damage and fatalities as a function of tsunami flow depth, current velocities, fluxes, and the impact of debris as well as an analysis of the socio-economic and the environmental conditions that lead to tsunami impacts.

To achieve this, the project has defined four major research topics (sub-projects) in addition to networking, exchange, and dissemination:

1. Field data analysis and literature review
2. Numerical and hydraulic modeling
3. Tsunami risk model
4. Innovative mitigation and resilience

Networking, exchange, and dissemination

The project will involve extensive knowledge exchange between the partners to promote and develop new and innovative solutions. This will be done by exchanging experience, knowledge, and scientific results between Japanese and European tsunami experts and disseminating project outcomes.

A strong focus is put on cooperation between the four RAPSODI partners, networking and exchanging knowledge through small-scale joint scientific events, dissemination of results, and utilization of complementary expertise between Japan and the European partners. The project will establish the partners as a stronger consortium for future joint Euro-Japan Research.

Background

CONCERT-Japan is an international ERA-NET program to enhance the cooperation of European countries with Japan in various areas of science and technology.

In 2012, CONCERT-Japan announced a Research and Innovation Joint Call within two scientific areas:

• Efficient energy storage and distribution
• Resilience against disasters

Together with partners PARI (Japan), TU Braunschweig (Germany), and MEtsunamiTU (Turkey), NGI sent an application and was successfully awarded funding for a project within Resilience against Disasters, called RAPSODI (Risk Assessment and design of Prevention Structures fOr enhanced tsunami DIsaster resilience).

This work is supported by funding from the CONCERT-Japan Joint Call on Efficient Energy Storage and Distribution/Resilience against Disasters. The CONCERT-Japan program is funded through the 7th EU Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7) and runs from January 2011 to December 2013. The core consortium of CONCERT-Japan consists of 13 organizations from 9 countries (Turkey (coordinator), Germany, France, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Norway, and Japan). In addition, several observers are involved in some parts of the project.

RAPSODI

The overall aims of the RAPSODI project are to develop a framework for quantitative tsunami risk assessment and to design tsunami mitigation structures to improve resilience against tsunami impacts. The project focuses on the quantitative assessment of vulnerability and analyzing loads on structures.

Laboratory studies of tsunami impacts on buildings, structures, and coastal protection for various foundations and designs will be performed to establish a matrix for various types of structures and buildings with their potential failure modes. Numerical tsunami models will be applied to analyze current velocities and flux around structures and in complex topographies. Further, assist in the design of prevention structures and quantitative risk assessment.

The Tohoku tsunami 2011 event clearly showed the potential for massive destruction of buildings, infrastructure, and coastal protection by tsunami waves. A huge amount of data has been collected during and after the event, allowing a retrospective analysis. The project will thoroughly investigate the vulnerability criteria and failure mechanisms of buildings and coastal protection structures to improve infrastructure, coastal protection, and the preparedness of coastal communities exposed to tsunamis. Field data and the experience gained from the 2011 event will be used to understand the performance of selected coastal structures, validate models, and evaluate the functionality of the deliverables of the project.

A strong focus is put on cooperation between the four partners NGI (Norway), PARI (Japan), TU Braunschweig (Germany), and METU (Turkey), networking and exchange of knowledge by small-scale joint scientific events, dissemination of scientific results, and utilization of complementary expertise between Japan and the European partners. The project will establish the partners as a more robust consortium for future joint Euro-Japan research.

Project coordination and management

The RAPSODI consortium comprises three European (NGI, TU-BS, METU) and one Japanese partner (PARI). Prof. Dr. Carl B. Harbitz, from NGI, will be the principal project leader, while Prof. Dr. Yoshiyuki Nakamura, from PARI, will be the Japanese project leader.

A steering committee (SC) consisting of one representative from each of the four partners (NGI, PARI, METU, and TUBS) will oversee the project to ensure that the objectives are successfully achieved, including integration of the activities, quality of deliverables, timely delivery, and dissemination of the results to stakeholders, decision-makers, and professionals. Progress reports will be required from each partner every six months and delivered to the SC.

The work will be organized in six work packages, each with a work package leader. The collaboration will further use the existing MoUs and previous long-term and positive collaborations between the partners, thus limiting the bureaucracy at the start of the project.

With individual and national funding, each partner will be responsible for their financial resources.

Smaller meetings/workshops are scheduled in Norway (early project meeting), Turkey in 2013, and Germany and Japan in 2014. A larger project meeting/dissemination seminar was scheduled in Japan in 2015. To encourage frequent interactions and reduce direct and personnel costs, electronic meetings will be done at all levels. Other meetings will tentatively be arranged in connection with international tsunami conferences.

The partners have agreed to a sharing of work tasks and responsibilities:

NGI will have a special responsibility for the vulnerability and risk model, and will also work extensively on the numerical modeling of tsunami generation (various sources), propagation, and inundation.

PARI will perform large-scale experiments on breakwater resilience against tsunami attacks and centrifugal experiments on submarine landslide tsunamis. PARI will further provide data and knowledge on tsunami damage and fatalities for further joint development of tsunami vulnerability models and prevention structures.

METU will perform hydraulic experiments on the performance of selected rubble mound structures under the attack of long waves, numerical modeling of tsunamis from source to target, computation of tsunami parameters near shore and in the vicinity of structures (high-resolution modeling), computation of flow pattern, resonance, and wave amplifications in semi-closed basins (harbors and bays), as well as vulnerability, hazard, and risk analyses.

With the help of guest students and researchers, TU-BS will perform the damage analysis of existing structures in Japan using the field data available in RAPSODI. It will further perform laboratory experiments, together with other RAPSODI partners, for an increased understanding of the failure of these structures (incl. the tsunami-induced loads). This will help develop a new coastal tsunami protection design and eventually lead to innovative ideas for tsunami mitigation. TU-BS will also assist in performing model tests on innovative structures, leading to improved protection against tsunamis and, thus, reduced risk.

Scientific excellence

The RAPSODI project will combine ongoing state-of-the-art research on coastal protection with new field data and new laboratory experiments on tsunami impacts on structures and buildings. The project will provide a new understanding of the failure modes beyond today's simple empirical relationships between water depth and damages or the number of fatalities. This will lead to the innovative design of prevention structures and strengthened protection of people.

Updated numerical models comprising new modules for current velocities and fluxes in complex topographies/urban areas, increased understanding of failure modes, and application of field data on structural, socioeconomic, and ecological vulnerability, will arrange for new and quantitative tsunami risk assessment.

The project will provide a creative international framework and facilitate the collaboration among four partners, each with unique and complementary scientific and technical expertise on:

• physical and numerical modeling of tsunamis, including source mechanisms (earthquakes, landslides, rock slides, debris flows, volcanoes), generation, propagation, coastal amplification, and inundation
• tsunami vulnerability (including structural, social, socio-economic, and socio-ecological vulnerability)
• tsunami risk (structural, societal, economic, and environmental) assessment.

Partners

The partners have the experience, expertise, and infrastructure to complete this project successfully. The partners also have experience with large cooperation research projects.

NGI - Norwegian Geotechnical Institute

has complementary expertise within vulnerability and risk assessment in general, and has performed the first global and several regional tsunami hazard and exposure analyses and local tsunami vulnerability and risk analyses. In particular, NGI has developed a GIS model for tsunami risk assessment. Detailed suggestions for developing this model further based on data from the 2011 Tohoku tsunami are already reported (NGI 2011).

PARI - Port and Airport Research Institute

has expertise on fatalities and damages caused by tsunami impact and has access to data from the 2011 event, and earlier events. PARI's laboratory facilities for tsunamis and protection structures are invaluable for validating and further improving the existing models for numerical simulation and risk assessment of tsunamis.

Middle East Technical University (METU)

Department of Civil Engineering, Ocean Engineering Research Center (METU), has long experience and close collaboration with international organizations (UNESCO, IAEA, JNES) and academic and operational institutions from different countries worldwide, including Japan, the US, and the European Union. These collaborative, joint research and consultancy activities have covered all aspects of tsunamis, from paleo tsunami surveys, post-tsunami field surveys, numerical modeling, early warning systems, hazard assessment, risk management, and developing guidelines for tsunami safety.

TU Braunschweig (TU-BS)

Leichtweiß - Institute for Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources (TU-BS) was involved in a German-Thai research project on tsunami risk (TRAIT, Tsunami Risks, Vulnerability and Resilience in the Phang-Nga and Phuket Provinces, Thailand, coordinated by the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel). TU-BS has good contacts with Indonesian partners where tsunami-related issues have been extensively researched. TU-BS also has wide experience with EU and large German research projects on flood risk (induced by either tsunamis or storm surges) and on developing methods and tools for structural performances, failure modes, reliability of structures, and vulnerability issues.

NGI and PARI already have a memorandum of understanding (MoU), covering cooperation within the field of natural hazards. METU and TUBS also collaborate long-term with Japanese institutions, including PARI. With this background, the consortium will be able to develop an innovative design of tsunami protection structures and new models for quantifying tsunami vulnerability and risk.

The findings will be based on dedicated laboratory experiments and numerical simulations to provide input data and test the functionality of the project results. The partners have the necessary infrastructure for laboratory and numerical modeling.

Contacts

• Yoshiyuki Nakamura, Sub-project Manager, nakamura-y@ynu.ac.jp
• Andreas Kortenhaus, Sub-project Manager, a.kortenhaus@tu-bs.de, Cell phone: +0531 391-3981
• Ahmet Cevet Yalciner, Sub-project Manager, yalciner@metu.edu.tr, Cell phone: +90-532-471 00 06
• Carl Harbitz