Title

An unstructured mesh generation algorithm for shallow water modeling

Authors

Authors

S. C. Hagen; O. Horstman;R. J. Bennett

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Int. J. Comput. Fluid Dyn.

Keywords

unstructured mesh; finite element; hierarchical; truncation error; shallow water model; PROGRESS; GRIDS; Mechanics; Physics, Fluids & Plasmas

Abstract

The successful implementation of a finite element model for computing shallow water flow requires: (1) continuity and momentum equations to describe the physics of the flow, (2) boundary conditions, (3) a discrete surface water region, and (4) an algebraic form of the shallow water equations and boundary conditions. Although steps (1), (2), and (4) may be documented and can be duplicated by multiple scientific investigators, the actual spatial discretization of the domain, i.e. unstructured mesh generation, is not a reproducible process at present. This inability to automatically produce variably-graded meshes that are reliable and efficient hinders fast application of the finite element method to surface water regions. In this paper we present a reproducible approach for generating unstructured, triangular meshes, which combines a hierarchical technique with a localized truncation error analysis as a means to incorporate flow variables and their derivatives. The result is a process that lays the groundwork for the automatic production of finite element meshes that can be used to model shallow water flow accurately and efficiently. The methodology described herein can also be transferred to other modeling applications.

Journal Title

International Journal of Computational Fluid Dynamics

Volume

16

Issue/Number

2

Publication Date

1-1-2002

Document Type

Article; Proceedings Paper

Language

English

First Page

83

Last Page

91

WOS Identifier

WOS:000175991400002

ISSN

1061-8562

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