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Numerical modelling of tsunami propagation in idealised converging water body geometries (2024)
Journal Article
Chen, Z., Heller, V., & Briganti, R. (2024). Numerical modelling of tsunami propagation in idealised converging water body geometries. Coastal Engineering, 189, Article 104482. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2024.104482

Tsunamis have caused many severe natural disasters in human history, such as in 2018 at Palu City located in a narrow bay resulting in over 4340 fatalities. The tsunami propagation characteristics are greatly affected by the water body geometry. For... Read More about Numerical modelling of tsunami propagation in idealised converging water body geometries.

Scaling approaches and scale effects in wave–flexible structure interaction (2023)
Journal Article
Attili, T., Heller, V., & Triantafyllou, S. (2023). Scaling approaches and scale effects in wave–flexible structure interaction. Journal of Fluids and Structures, 123, Article 103987. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfluidstructs.2023.103987

Laboratory models are important for research, to inform design solutions and to calibrate and validate numerical models. Unfortunately, model-prototype similarity is often difficult to achieve in small models, resulting in scale effects. For Wave–Fle... Read More about Scaling approaches and scale effects in wave–flexible structure interaction.

A critical review about generic subaerial landslide-tsunami experiments and options for a needed step change (2023)
Journal Article
Heller, V., & Ruffini, G. (2023). A critical review about generic subaerial landslide-tsunami experiments and options for a needed step change. Earth-Science Reviews, 242, Article 104459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2023.104459

Subaerial landslide-tsunamis (SLTs) are generated by mass movements such as landslides, rockfalls, glacier calving and snow avalanches impacting into lakes, reservoirs, fjords and the sea. Past SLTs reached runup heights of up to 524 m and are respon... Read More about A critical review about generic subaerial landslide-tsunami experiments and options for a needed step change.

Wave impact on rigid and flexible plates (2023)
Journal Article
Attili, T., Heller, V., & Triantafyllou, S. (2023). Wave impact on rigid and flexible plates. Coastal Engineering, 182, Article 104302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2023.104302

Wave impact on offshore and coastal structures, such as oil and gas rigs, offshore wind turbine platforms, breakwaters, flood protection systems and wave energy converters, involve complex wave-structure interactions. These interactions are particula... Read More about Wave impact on rigid and flexible plates.

Hydraulic Structures At the Heart of 21st Century Global Sustainable Development (2023)
Journal Article
Mulligan, S., Felder, S., Pummer, E., Valero, D., Heller, V., Erpicum, S., …Crookston, B. (2023). Hydraulic Structures At the Heart of 21st Century Global Sustainable Development. Hydrolink, 2023(1), 5-9

For millennia, societal progress, health and prosperous economic growth has been closely linked to development of water infrastructure. Now in the 21st century, humankind faces some immense challenges including increasing and migrating populations, w... Read More about Hydraulic Structures At the Heart of 21st Century Global Sustainable Development.

Numerical validation of novel scaling laws for air–water flows including compressibility and heat transfer (2023)
Journal Article
Catucci, D., Briganti, R., & Heller, V. (2023). Numerical validation of novel scaling laws for air–water flows including compressibility and heat transfer. Journal of Hydraulic Research, 61(4), 517-531. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221686.2023.2225462

Air–water flows are among the most important flow types in hydraulic engineering. Their experimental modelling at reduced size using Froude scaling laws introduces scale effects. This study introduces novel scaling laws for compressible air–water flo... Read More about Numerical validation of novel scaling laws for air–water flows including compressibility and heat transfer.

Numerical Investigation of Waves Interacting with Rigid and Flexible Plates (2022)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Attili, T., Heller, V., & Triantafyllou, S. (2022, June). Numerical Investigation of Waves Interacting with Rigid and Flexible Plates. Presented at 39th IAHR World Congress, Granada

The physics governing the impact of waves on coastal structures, referred to as wave-structure interaction (WSI), pose a serious challenge for a range of coastal applications such as oil and gas rigs, offshore wind turbine platforms, breakwaters, flo... Read More about Numerical Investigation of Waves Interacting with Rigid and Flexible Plates.

Analytical and Numerical Study of Novel Scaling Laws for Air-Water Flows (2022)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Catucci, D., Briganti, R., & Heller, V. (2022). Analytical and Numerical Study of Novel Scaling Laws for Air-Water Flows. In Proceedings of the 39th IAHR World Congress (Granada, 2022) (4551-4560). https://doi.org/10.3850/IAHR-39WC252171192022202

Physical modelling in the laboratory is widely used for hydraulic investigations. Froude similarity results in significant scale effects in small models for flows involving air-entrainment. Such air-water flows are essential for many hydraulic applic... Read More about Analytical and Numerical Study of Novel Scaling Laws for Air-Water Flows.

Numerical Investigation of Impulse Waves Impacting on Dams (2022)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Attili, T., Heller, V., & Triantafyllou, S. (2022). Numerical Investigation of Impulse Waves Impacting on Dams. In Proceedings of the 39th IAHR World Congress (Granada, 2022) (2222-2229). https://doi.org/10.3850/IAHR-39WC252171192022107

Impulse waves are generated by landslides, rockfalls and iceberg calving in water bodies such as lakes and reservoirs. These waves represent a persistent danger for dams, e.g. in the 1963 Vajont disaster an impulse wave impacted and overtopped the Va... Read More about Numerical Investigation of Impulse Waves Impacting on Dams.

Numerical Investigation of Landslide-Tsunamis Generated by Different Mass Movement Types (2022)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Liu, J., Heller, V., & Wang, Y. (2022). Numerical Investigation of Landslide-Tsunamis Generated by Different Mass Movement Types. In Proceedings of the 39th IAHR World Congress (Granada, 2022) (4148-4157). https://doi.org/10.3850/IAHR-39WC2521716X20221680

Landslide-tsunamis, also called impulse waves, are generated by mass movements, such as landslides, rock falls or iceberg calving, impacting into a water body. Past cases such as the Vajont landslide-tsunami event, which caused approximately 2000 cas... Read More about Numerical Investigation of Landslide-Tsunamis Generated by Different Mass Movement Types.

Numerical validation of novel scaling laws for air entrainment in water (2021)
Journal Article
Catucci, D., Briganti, R., & Heller, V. (2021). Numerical validation of novel scaling laws for air entrainment in water. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 477(2255), Article 20210339. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2021.0339

The Froude scaling laws have been used to model a wide range of water flows at reduced size for almost a century. In such Froude scale models, significant scale effects for air-water flows (e.g. hydraulic jumps or wave breaking) are typically observe... Read More about Numerical validation of novel scaling laws for air entrainment in water.

A numerical investigation of tsunamis impacting dams (2021)
Journal Article
Attili, T., Heller, V., & Triantafyllou, S. (2021). A numerical investigation of tsunamis impacting dams. Coastal Engineering, 169, Article 103942. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2021.103942

Landslides, rockfalls, and iceberg calving impacting into a water body generate large landslide-tsunamis posing a serious hazard in lakes and reservoirs. These waves can impact and even overtop dams as in the 1963 Vajont disaster in Italy. However, e... Read More about A numerical investigation of tsunamis impacting dams.

A glacier–ocean interaction model for tsunami genesis due to iceberg calving (2021)
Journal Article
Wolper, J., Gao, M., Lüthi, M. P., Heller, V., Vieli, A., Jiang, C., & Gaume, J. (2021). A glacier–ocean interaction model for tsunami genesis due to iceberg calving. Communications Earth & Environment, 2(1), Article 130. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00179-7

Glaciers calving icebergs into the ocean significantly contribute to sea-level rise and can trigger tsunamis, posing severe hazards for coastal regions. Computational modeling of such multiphase processes is a great challenge involving complex solid–... Read More about A glacier–ocean interaction model for tsunami genesis due to iceberg calving.

Numerical characterisation and efficient prediction of landslide-tsunami propagation over a wide range of idealised bathymetries (2021)
Journal Article
Ruffini, G., Heller, V., & Briganti, R. (2021). Numerical characterisation and efficient prediction of landslide-tsunami propagation over a wide range of idealised bathymetries. Coastal Engineering, 167, Article 103854. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2021.103854

Landslide-tsunamis are generated by masses, such as landslides or icebergs, impacting into water bodies. Such tsunamis resulted in major catastrophes in the recent past. Generic research into landslide-tsunamis has widely been conducted in idealised... Read More about Numerical characterisation and efficient prediction of landslide-tsunami propagation over a wide range of idealised bathymetries.

The need for a paradigm shift in subaerial landslide-tsunami research (2020)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Heller, V. (2020). The need for a paradigm shift in subaerial landslide-tsunami research. In Proceedings of virtual Conference on Coastal Engineering, 2020. https://doi.org/10.9753/icce.v36v.currents.36

Subaerial landslide-tsunamis (SLTs) are caused by mass movements such as landslides, rock falls or glacier calving. Research into SLTs is ongoing for many decades, however, the advancement in the physical understanding and reliability of hazard asses... Read More about The need for a paradigm shift in subaerial landslide-tsunami research.

Large-scale investigation into iceberg-tsunamis generated by various iceberg calving mechanisms (2020)
Journal Article
Heller, V., Attili, T., Chen, F., Gabl, R., & Wolters, G. (2021). Large-scale investigation into iceberg-tsunamis generated by various iceberg calving mechanisms. Coastal Engineering, 163, Article 103745. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2020.103745

© 2020 Elsevier B.V. Mass balance analysis of ice sheets is a key component to understand the effects of global warming with iceberg calving as a significant contributor. Calving recently generated tsunamis of up to 50 m in amplitude endangering huma... Read More about Large-scale investigation into iceberg-tsunamis generated by various iceberg calving mechanisms.

Numerical modelling of tsunamis generated by iceberg calving validated with large-scale laboratory experiments (2020)
Journal Article
Chen, F., Heller, V., & Briganti, R. (2020). Numerical modelling of tsunamis generated by iceberg calving validated with large-scale laboratory experiments. Advances in Water Resources, 142, Article 103647. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2020.103647

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd When calving icebergs interact with water, waves of tens of meters in height, so-called iceberg-tsunamis (IBTs), may be generated. Recent examples include an IBT which reached an amplitude of 45 to 50 m in Eqip Sermia, Greenland,... Read More about Numerical modelling of tsunamis generated by iceberg calving validated with large-scale laboratory experiments.

Grain Reynolds number scale effects in dry granular slides (2020)
Journal Article
Kesseler, M., Heller, V., & Turnbull, B. (2020). Grain Reynolds number scale effects in dry granular slides. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 125(1), Article e2019JF005347. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JF005347

©2020. The Authors. Scale effects are differences in physical behavior that manifest between a large event and a geometrically scaled laboratory model and may cause misleading predictions. This study focuses on scale effects in granular slides, impor... Read More about Grain Reynolds number scale effects in dry granular slides.

Large-scale Experiments of Tsunamis Generated by Iceberg Calving (2019)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Heller, V., Attili, T., Chen, F., Brühl, M., Gabl, R., & Fuchs, H. (2019). Large-scale Experiments of Tsunamis Generated by Iceberg Calving. . https://doi.org/10.3850/38WC092019-0800

Iceberg calving at outlet glaciers contributes to global sea-level rise in the context of climate change. This study investigates tsunamis generated by iceberg calving, so-called iceberg-tsunamis. Such tsunamis reached amplitudes of 50 m in the recen... Read More about Large-scale Experiments of Tsunamis Generated by Iceberg Calving.

Numerical modelling of landslide-tsunami propagation in a wide range of idealised water body geometries (2019)
Journal Article
Ruffini, G., Heller, V., & Briganti, R. (2019). Numerical modelling of landslide-tsunami propagation in a wide range of idealised water body geometries. Coastal Engineering, 153, Article 103518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2019.103518

© 2019 Elsevier B.V. Large landslide-tsunamis are caused by mass movements such as landslides or rock falls impacting into a water body. Research of these phenomena is essentially based on the two idealised water body geometries (i) wave flume (2D, l... Read More about Numerical modelling of landslide-tsunami propagation in a wide range of idealised water body geometries.

Large-scale experiments into the tsunamigenic potential of different iceberg calving mechanisms (2019)
Journal Article
Heller, V., Chen, F., Brühl, M., Gabl, R., Chen, X., Wolters, G., & Fuchs, H. (2019). Large-scale experiments into the tsunamigenic potential of different iceberg calving mechanisms. Scientific Reports, 9(1), Article 861. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-36634-3

Mass balance analysis of ice sheets is a key component to understand the effects of global warming. A significant component of ice sheet and shelf mass balance is iceberg calving, which can generate large tsunamis endangering human beings and coastal... Read More about Large-scale experiments into the tsunamigenic potential of different iceberg calving mechanisms.

A numerical landslide-tsunami hazard assessment technique applied on hypothetical scenarios at Es Vedrà, offshore Ibiza (2018)
Journal Article
Tan, H., Ruffini, G., Heller, V., & Chen, S. (2018). A numerical landslide-tsunami hazard assessment technique applied on hypothetical scenarios at Es Vedrà, offshore Ibiza. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 6(4), 111. https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse6040111

This study presents a numerical landslide-tsunami hazard assessment technique for applications in reservoirs, lakes, fjords, and the sea. This technique is illustrated with hypothetical scenarios at Es Vedrà, offshore Ibiza, although currently no evi... Read More about A numerical landslide-tsunami hazard assessment technique applied on hypothetical scenarios at Es Vedrà, offshore Ibiza.

A laboratory-numerical approach for modelling scale effects in dry granular slides (2018)
Journal Article
Kesseler, M., Heller, V., & Turnbull, B. (2018). A laboratory-numerical approach for modelling scale effects in dry granular slides. Landslides, 15(11), 2145–2159. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-018-1023-z

Granular slides are omnipresent in both natural and industrial contexts. Scale effects are changes in physical behaviour of a phenomenon at different geometric scales, such as between a laboratory experiment and a corresponding larger event observed... Read More about A laboratory-numerical approach for modelling scale effects in dry granular slides.

Self-similarity and Reynolds number invariance in Froude modelling (2016)
Journal Article
Heller, V. (in press). Self-similarity and Reynolds number invariance in Froude modelling. Journal of Hydraulic Research, 55(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/00221686.2016.1250832

This review aims to improve the reliability of Froude modelling in fluid flows where both the Froude number and Reynolds number are a priori relevant. Two concepts may help to exclude significant Reynolds number scale effects under these conditions:... Read More about Self-similarity and Reynolds number invariance in Froude modelling.

Tsunami science and engineering (2016)
Book
(2016). V. Heller (Ed.), Tsunami science and engineering. MDPI AG

In 2013, I was approached by the editorial team of the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering to act as guest editor of a Special Issue on tsunamis. I was very keen to take on this project given that recent tragic events such as the 2004 Indian Oc... Read More about Tsunami science and engineering.

Composite modelling of subaerial landslide-tsunamis in different water body geometries and novel insight into slide and wave kinematics (2016)
Journal Article
Heller, V., Bruggemann, M., Spinneken, J., & Rogers, B. (2016). Composite modelling of subaerial landslide-tsunamis in different water body geometries and novel insight into slide and wave kinematics. Coastal Engineering, 109(3), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2015.12.004

This article addresses subaerial landslide-tsunamis with a composite (experimental-numerical) modelling approach. A shortcoming of generic empirical equations used for hazard assessment is that they are commonly based on the two idealised water body... Read More about Composite modelling of subaerial landslide-tsunamis in different water body geometries and novel insight into slide and wave kinematics.

On the effect of the water body geometry on landslide–tsunamis: physical insight from laboratory tests and 2D to 3D wave parameter transformation (2015)
Journal Article
Heller, V., & Spinneken, J. (2015). On the effect of the water body geometry on landslide–tsunamis: physical insight from laboratory tests and 2D to 3D wave parameter transformation. Coastal Engineering, 104, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2015.06.006

Preliminary landslide–tsunami hazard assessment is commonly based on empirical equations derived from wave channel (2D) or wave basin (3D) experiments. The far-field wave in 2D can easily be an order of magnitude larger than in 3D. The present study... Read More about On the effect of the water body geometry on landslide–tsunamis: physical insight from laboratory tests and 2D to 3D wave parameter transformation.

A universal parameter to predict subaerial landslide tsunamis? (2014)
Journal Article
Heller, V., & Hager, W. H. (2014). A universal parameter to predict subaerial landslide tsunamis?. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2(2), https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse2020400

The significance of the impulse product parameter P is reviewed, which is believed to be the most universal parameter for subaerial landslide tsunami (impulse wave) prediction. This semi-empirical parameter is based on the streamwise slide momentum f... Read More about A universal parameter to predict subaerial landslide tsunamis?.

Composite modelling of the effect of the water body geometry on landslide-tsunamis
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Heller, V. (in press). Composite modelling of the effect of the water body geometry on landslide-tsunamis.

Subaerial landslide-tsunamis (impulse waves) are generated by mass movements such as landslides, rock falls or glacier calving interacting with a water body. Preliminary landslide-tsunami hazard assessment is commonly based on empirical equations der... Read More about Composite modelling of the effect of the water body geometry on landslide-tsunamis.