An experimental study on runup of two solitary waves on plane beaches

Experiments of the runup of two solitary waves on a plane beach are carried out in a wave flume. The two solitary waves with the same amplitude and the crest separating distances are generated by using an improved wave generation method. It is found that, with regard to the two solitary waves with same wave amplitude, the runup amplification of the second wave is less than that of the first wave if the relative crest separating distance is reduced to a certain threshold value. The rundown of the first solitary wave depresses the maximum runup of the second wave. If the leading solitary wave is of relatively smaller amplitude for the two solitary waves, the runup amplification is affected by the overtaking process of two solitary waves. It turns out that the runup amplification of the second wave is larger than that of the first wave if the similarity factor is approximately larger than 15, which means the larger wave overtakes the smaller one before the waves runup on a beach.