Shallow water numerical model of the wave generated by the Vajont landslide

On October 9th 1963 a huge landslide fell into the Vajont artificial reservoir in Northern Italy, and displaced the water which overtopped the dam and produced a destructive wave that inundated the valley causing about 2000 casualties and complete devastation. The landslide has been the subject of many geological studies, and is one of the largest ever documented in literature. Nevertheless, only a small number of hydraulic analyses have been conducted relating the sliding motion to the consequent water waves and describing the formation of different waves and how they interfered with each other. A numerical model, capable of doing so, has not yet been presented. In this paper, a horizontal bi-dimensional finite volume model is proposed in order to study the wave generated by the Vajont landslide. We hereby introduce a moving wall reproducing the effects of the landslide. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.