Three ports in northwest Java sit within 200 kilometres of a seismic gap in the Sunda megathrust—a zone capable of generating magnitude 8.9 tsunamigenic earthquakes. The 2018 tsunamis in Palu and Anak Krakatau killed over 5,000 people, and Indonesia remains acutely vulnerable. Current tsunami risk tools are too complex for non-experts, leaving port authorities without practical ways to assess how waves will damage structures and moored ships, or how that damage will cascade into maritime trade disruptions. This project builds two pieces of user-friendly software that automate the entire risk-assessment workflow: field surveys to catalogue port infrastructure, numerical simulations of wave impact, and fragility functions that estimate the probability of structural failure. A GIS-based framework and standalone applications will let port staff—not just specialist modellers—run these analyses themselves. If successful, the tools could make ports in tsunami-prone regions worldwide more resilient, reducing operational downtime and protecting supply chains that most people never think about until they break. The project also advances fundamental tsunami modelling by applying physics-informed neural networks, a technique that may improve how quickly and accurately future hazard simulations run.
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Project PINN-PORT aims to develop an automated GIS framework and two application software for assessing tsunami hazards and their impact on industrial infrastructures in ports. The model will be applied to three ports in Cilegon, northwest Java, Indonesia, which are within 200 km of the identified seismic gap region of the Sunda megathrust. This region is estimated to be capable of generating Mw 8.9 tsunamigenic earthquakes in the future. These locations are of particular interest due to Indonesia's vulnerability to tsunamis, evidenced by the significant loss of life in tsunamis like those in Palu and Anak Krakatau in 2018, which resulted in over 5,000 fatalities. Tsunamis have the potential to inflict damage on structures within port areas, in turn, causing operational disruptions with cascading effects on maritime trade. Hence, understanding the tsunami impact on port structures and moored ships is essential. The objectives of this project are to 1: Make ports more resilient and safer to tsunamis by developing innovative hazard analysis tools and harnessing the latest modelling technique namely Physics-Informed Neural Network modelling. 2: Automate the process of tsunami risk analysis to ports with the aid of a GIS-based tool and standalone applications that are user-friendly, even for non-experts. 3: Communicate, collaborate and co-create the resilience tools by consulting with port authorities. PINN-PORT employs a hybrid research approach, combining numerical simulations, analytical studies, and field surveys. Field surveys assess the exposure and vulnerability of structures, and fragility functions estimate the probability of structural damage. The developed tools automate this workflow, making them accessible to researchers and potentially port authorities worldwide. By creating these applications, our aim is to advance tsunami modelling research by improving technological accessibility and simplifying the process.
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