Hermann Fritz
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Water Resources Engineering, Resilient Infrastructure
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Publications

Hermann M. Fritz

Professor
Email Address
fritz@gatech.edu
Telephone
404.385.1803
Office Building
Mason
Office Room Number
2237
Biography

Dr. Hermann Fritz is a professor of civil engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). He is an expert on coastal hazards, such as tsunamis, hurricane storm surge and storm waves, landslides and submarine volcanic eruptions. Dr. Fritz has led or participated in more than a dozen post-disaster reconnaissance campaigns encompassing tsunami, hurricane, landslide, and earthquake events. Tsunami Surveys: 2004 Indian Ocean (Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Somalia, Madagascar, Oman, Yemen, Comoros), 2006 Java, 2007 Solomon Islands and Peru, 2009 Samoa, American Samoa, and Tonga, 2010 Solomon Islands, Haiti, Chile, and Mentawai Islands, 2011 Japan, 2012 El Salvador, 2013 Solomon Islands, 2014 and 2015 Chile, 2017 Greenland, 2018 Sulawesi and Krakatau. Hurricane Surveys: 2005 Hurricane Katrina, 2007 Tropical Cyclone Gonu (Oman), 2008 Tropical Cyclone Nargis (Myanmar), 2013 Typhoon Haiyan (Philippines), 2015 Tropical Cyclone Pam (Vanuatu), 2017 Hurricane Nate. Dr. Fritz's research centers on fluid dynamic aspects of natural hazards as well as their mitigation and coastal protection. Dr. Fritz obtained his Doctorate degree (Dr. sc. ETH Zurich) in 2002 from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (Switzerland).

Research

Dr. Fritz has developed a strong research effort covering experimental (both field and laboratory) and computational methods in fluid dynamics, hydraulics and geophysics. His research focuses on coastal hazards such as tsunamis, hurricanes, landslides, and volcanoes. Dr. Fritz’s work encompasses non-linear and breaking water waves; subaerial and submarine mass flows such as landslides, avalanches, island collapses, and submarine volcanic eruptions; floods, river engineering and morphologic processes; hydraulic and coastal structures such as seawalls, breakwaters, levees and dams along with their failure and breaching mechanisms; hydropower, wave, tidal and ocean current energy. His research is significantly enhancing the hazard prevention, mitigation and protection of coastal and mountainous areas on a truly global scale.

Education
Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (Dr. sc. techn. ETH) ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) 2002
M.S. in Civil Engineering (Dipl.-Ing. ETH) ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) 1997
Teaching

Professor Fritz’ teaching focuses on civil and environmental engineering at undergraduate and graduate levels, emphasizing dynamics, fluid mechanics, hydraulic engineering, coastal hazards, coastal structures, and experimental methods. His instruction integrates fundamental principles with practical applications to prepare students for research and professional practice. Professor Fritz is committed to fostering student engagement through hands-on learning and critical thinking in courses related to hydraulic and coastal engineering.

Distinctions & Awards
  • Plinius Medal, Natural Hazards Division, European Geosciences Union (EGU), 2014
  • CIOS Honor Roll
  • Excellence in Research Award, CEE, Georgia Tech, 2005
  • Research Excellence Award, Georgia Tech Savannah, 2005
Publications
  1. Sunny, R.C., Horrillo, Cheng, W., Liu, Y., Fritz, H.M. (2025). Three-Dimensional Submarine-Volcano-Generated Tsunamis: Numerical and Physical Model Comparisons, Applied Ocean Research, 164 (2025), 104769. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apor.2025.104769
  2. Liu, Y., Fritz, H.M. (2024). Physical Modeling of Tsunamis generated by Submarine Volcanic Eruptions, J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 129, e2023JC020796. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JC020796
  3. Liu, Y., Fritz, H.M. (2023). Physical Modeling of Domes and Spikes during the Generation of Volcanic Tsunamis, Physics of Fluids, 35(6), 066605. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0147970.
  4. Syamsidik, Rasyif, T.M., Fritz, H.M., Idris, Y, Rusydy, I. (2023). Fragility based characterization of alternative tsunami evacuation buildings in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Int. J. Disaster Risk Reduction, 88:103607. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.103607
  5. DePaolis, J., T. Dura, B.T. MacInnes, N. Brennan, L.L. Ely, M.A. Cisternas, M. Carvajal, H. Tang, H.M. Fritz, C. Mizobe, R.L. Wesson, B.P. Horton, G. Figueroa, B.P. Horton, J.E. Pilarczyk, D.R. Corbett, B.C. Gill, R. Weiss (2021). Stratigraphic evidence of two historic tsunamis on the semi-arid coast of north-central Chile, Quaternary Science Reviews 266:107052. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107052
  6. Borrero, J.C., T. Solihuddin, H.M. Fritz, P.J. Lynett, G.S. Prasetya, V. Skanavis, S. Husrin, Kushendratno, W. Kongko, D.C. Istiyanto, A. Daulat, D. Purbani, H.L. Salim, R. Hidayat, V. Asvaliantina, M. Usman, A. Kodijat, S. Son, C.E. Synolakis (2020). Field Survey and Numerical Modelling of the December 22, 2018 Anak Krakatau Tsunami, Pure Appl. Geophys., 177(6):2457-2475. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-020-02515-y
  7. Kim, G.-B., Cheng, W., Sunny, R.C., Horrillo, J.J., McFall, B.C., Mohammed, F., Fritz, H.M., Beget, J., Kowalik, Z. (2020). Three Dimensional Landslide Generated Tsunamis: Numerical and Physical Model Comparisons, Landslides, 17(5):1145-1161. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-019-01308-2
  8. Syamsidik, Al’ala, M., Fritz, H.M., Fahmi, M., Hafli, T.M. (2019). Numerical simulations of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami deposits’ thicknesses and emplacements, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 19:1265–1280. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-19-1265-2019
  9. McFall, B.C., Mohammed, F., Fritz, H.M., Liu, Y. (2018). Laboratory experiments on three-dimensional deformable granular landslides on planar and conical slopes, Landslides, 15(9):1713-1730. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-018-0984-2
  10. Gauthier, D., Anderson, S.A., Fritz, H.M., Giachetti, T. (2018). Karrat Fjord (Greenland) tsunamigenic landslide of 17 June 2017: initial 3D observations, Landslides, 15(2):327-332. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-017-0926-4

In the News

Flooded houses and downed trees after Hurricane Katrina

Twenty Years After Katrina: How Levee Failures Changed America

Professor Hermann Fritz and other experts from Georgia Tech discuss Hurricane Katrina’s catastrophic landfall and how its legacy of destruction and displacement continues to challenge disaster preparedness across the U.S. 

Georgia Tech News Center
Read more about Twenty Years After Katrina: How Levee Failures Changed America
The volcanic tsunami generator developed by Georgia Tech researchers

Georgia Tech Making Waves in Tsunami Research

Professor Hermann Fritz and his former graduate student, Yibin Liu, are interested in a specific kind of tsunami, those caused by underwater volcanic eruptions and landslides. So, they built a volcanic tsunami generator in a wave basin — essentially, a large lab-in-a-tank for studying wave behavior.

Georgia Tech Research News
Read more about Georgia Tech Making Waves in Tsunami Research