| Summary: | Since the Vaiont Dam disaster in 1963, there has been an awareness among design engineers of the rockfall problem, where a large landslide into shallow water can generate water waves of appreciable size. The prediction of landslide properties, like size and speed, is qualitative. However, for a given landslide into shallow water, this study aims to provide a quantitative prediction of some important wave properties. Rectangular blocks were dropped vertically into a long horizontal channel of constant width. The leading or first waves generated were mostly unbroken and, although assymmetrical, were similar to solitary waves. Only large, heavy blocks dropped from well above the water surface caused broken waves, these converting into solitary waves at substantial distances downstream. A long oscillatory wave train followed the leading wave, but because its height was usually smaller and subsided at a greater rate than the leading wave, it was not considered to be important.
The first wave height is related to the block dimensions and density and its fall height. Subsidence is also studied.
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