UKC

Any engineers out there who reckon a hinged gate could be used to close when a tsunami hit it,thus protecting doors and windows from caving in?
The gate could rest at,say,30 degrees to the horizontal,and fit neatly into a frame on the building it is 'protecting'.Of course,if the wave is more than about 6 metres high,it will probably demolish the building anyway.Seems a lot of people are killed by wavesd as small as 3 metres,though.

Mitch

In reply to paul mitchell:

They aren't waves like wind-generated waves - they are waves carrying huge amounts of energy. There would have to be a full length sea-wall the height of most houses (or higher) for it to be truly effective against a tsunami.

In reply to higherclimbingwales:

Very much so. Tsunamis are more a temporary rise in sea level than a wave. They increase in pressure and height over minutes with no trough behind (tho often phases). Tohoku did this over 9mins.
Much damage is blowing stuff out from the inside from pressure. Some buildings simply pop the doors and windows.
Undermining is a big issue too. Pressure forced under structures flips them over. Ive seen 4 story apartments on their side.
Then the withdrawing of the water rips everything out the other way. Sea walls that are breached create vortexs inside lakes with huge pressure behibd them. 20,000t blocks shifted is common....

Also, defences need to be tailored to each location as factors differ widely between valleys, flat areas, bays etc.

Not an engineer, just seen plenty of damage