• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.165-178
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• 2021

We studied driftwood behaviors including generation and deposition in a tsunami using a numerical simulation. We used an integrated two-dimensional numerical model, which included a driftwood dynamics model. The study area was Sendai, Japan. Observation data collected by Inagaki et al. (2012) were used to verify the simulation results by comparing them with driftwood deposition patterns. A simplified model was developed to consider the threshold of driftwood generation by the drag force of water flows. To consider the volume of driftwood generated, we estimated the total wood number in the study area using Google Earth. Therefore, we simulated more than 13,000 pieces of driftwood that were generated and transported inland from approximately 300,000 trees that were growing in the forest. The final distribution of the driftwood was similar to the observation data. The reproducibility of the generation and deposition patterns of driftwood showed good agreement in terms of longitudinal deposition pattern. In the future, a sensitivity analysis on driftwood parameters, such as the size of the wood, boundary conditions, and grid size, will be implemented to predict the travel patterns of driftwood. Such modeling will be a useful methodology for disaster prediction based on water flow and driftwood.