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Coastal Urban Design Lab
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The lab computes tsunami and flood flows, and even the evacuation of people, as collections of particles.
AboutAbout the lab
Simulation engineering using particle methods
The Coastal Urban Design Lab researches the prediction of flows that occur during tsunamis, storm surges, and localized torrential rain, using computational methods called particle methods.
A particle method treats water as a collection of fine particles and tracks the flow from the interactions between particles.
The lab numerically analyzes with high accuracy phenomena that underlie measures to protect waterside environments, such as solid-gas-liquid multiphase flow in which water, sediment, and air bubbles are mixed.
Extending the same idea to the movement of people, the lab also develops simulators of crowd evacuation during disasters.
Key terms
- Particle method
- A technique that represents water and sediment as collections of fine particles and calculates flow from the interactions between particles
- Solid-gas-liquid multiphase flow
- A state in which materials with different properties, such as water, sediment, and air bubbles, flow while mixed together
- Individual-based model
- A model that represents a group as an accumulation of each individual's movements and reproduces the behavior of the whole
NewsLab news
The professor and colleagues received the JAMSTEC Nakanishi Award 2026 from the Japan Society of Ocean Engineering
A book by the professor and colleagues, Advanced Particle Methods, was published
The professor and colleagues received the Coastal Engineering Journal Award of 2023
The professor and colleagues received the Coastal Engineering Journal Citation Award of 2023
A doctoral student and the professor and colleagues received the Best Paper Award at SPHERIC Zhuhai 2024
ResearchResearch themes
Using computational mechanics centered on particle methods, the lab handles everything from complex water motion such as breaking waves and violent flows to the movement of people during disasters. Its goal is to build a computational science methodology that describes everything from natural phenomena to human behavior in a unified way, as the behavior of particles.
*Illustrative imageSolving breaking waves and violent flows with particle methods
By using interacting moving particles as computational points, the method can follow complex water-surface motion involving the splitting and recombining of water masses. The lab develops numerical wave tanks for studying wave forces and overtopping volume.
*Illustrative imageComputing rivers and coasts where sediment moves
River and coastal beds are made of sediment that moves with the flow. Based on multiphase flow and the mechanics of granular materials, the lab builds mathematical models and simulates sediment transport in rivers and littoral drift on coasts.
*Illustrative imageUnderstanding crowd evacuation with particle models
Using an individual-based model that tracks each evacuee, the lab reproduces crowd evacuation during floods. It runs calculations under various scenarios, such as whether or not evacuation routes are publicized, to support the formulation of evacuation plans.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Coastal Urban Design Lab consist of faculty, master's and undergraduate students, and secretaries. As PMR-Kyoto (Particle Method Research Team), the lab operates under a joint research structure run by three labs: the Gotoh Lab, the Harada Lab, and the KHAYYER Lab.As of 2026
- ProfessorHitoshi Gotoh
- Associate ProfessorHiroyuki Ikari
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “North Shore Trip - Oct 2017 - Waves Crashing Over the Two Harbors Breakwater ( )” Pete Markham from Loretto, USA / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Solving breaking waves and violent flows with particle methods: “Water drop 001” José Manuel Suárez from Spain / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Computing rivers and coasts where sediment moves: “Rippel (Großrippel Welleneinlauf)” Rhetos / CC0 (cropped)
- Understanding crowd evacuation with particle models: “Sardines - Sardines (iwashi)” TANAKA Juuyoh (田中十洋) / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (水理環境ダイナミクス): “Kruger National Park (ZA), Sand River” Dietmar Rabich / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (水際地盤学): “Breaking waves - Sicily” Wind&Wuthering / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (水文・
水資源学): “Leh-Manali Highway, Basin, Ladakh, India” Vyacheslav Argenberg / CC BY 4.0 (cropped) - Related lab (防災水工学): “Flood in River Bagmati” Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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