A numerical study of the vertical structure of typhoon surge currents

In the present paper a three-dimensional model has been used to calculate the vertical structure of the current generated by typhoon surge. The aim of this work is to obtain support for the depth-averaged model, which is based upon two basic assumptions. One of them is that the current has a negligible vertical structure and the other is that the velocity veering angle is small. Our results show that, in most of the real storm surge cases, these two assumptions are quite good approximations of the real situation, especially when water is shallow, and the locations are near the shore. These features are usually encountered in the real storm surges with which we are concerned. Therefore, we can expect that the two-dimensional depth-averaged model will give satisfactory results. The experiments carried out by using a straight coastline and uniform depth give vertical structures which are compatible with the conclusions previously reached by other authors.