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A finite element model for tidal and residual circulation

Roy A. Walters
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Abstract

Harmonic decomposition is applied to the shallow water equations, thereby creating a system of equations for the amplitude of the various tidal constituents and for the residual motions. The resulting equations are elliptic in nature, are well posed and in practice are shown to be numerically well-behaved. There are a number of strategies for choosing elements: the two extremes are to use a few high-order elements with continous derivatives, or to use a large number of simpler linear elements. In this paper simple linear elements are used and prove effective.

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Communications in Numerical Methods in EngineeringArticle

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Roy A. Walters. 2005-06-20. A finite element model for tidal and residual circulation. https://doi.org/10.1002/cnm.1630020410

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A robust, finite element model for hydrostatic surface water flows

A finite element scheme is introduced for the 2-dimensional shallow water equations using semi-implicit methods in time. A semi-Lagrangian method is used to approximate the effects of advection. A wave equation is formed at the discrete level such that the equations decouple into an equation for surface elevation and a momentum equation for the horizontal velocity. The convergence rates and relative computational efficiency are examined with the use of three test cases representing various degrees of difficulty. A test with a polar-quadrant grid investigates the response to local grid-scale forcing and the presence of spurious modes, a channel test case establishes convergence rates, and a field-scale test case examines problems with highly irregular grids.A finite element scheme is introduced for the 2-dimensional shallow water equations using semi-implicit methods in time. A semi-Lagrangian method is used to approximate the effects of advection. A wave equation is formed at the discrete level such that the equations decouple into an equation for surface elevation and a momentum equation for the horizontal velocity. The convergence rates and relative computational efficiency are examined with the use of three test cases representing various degrees of difficulty. A test with a polar-quadrant grid investigates the response to local grid-scale forcing and the presence of spurious modes, a channel test case establishes convergence rates, and a field-scale test case examines problems with highly irregular grids.

Communications in Numerical Methods in Engineering↗