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A finite element solution to the shallow water equations incorporating a moving boundary

This thesis presents a finite element procedure for the solution of the Shallow-Water Equations dealing with tide generated flows in estuaries and coastal areas incorporating a dynamic land-water interface. The flow algorithm employed is an implementation of the explicit Two-Step Taylor-Galerkin finite element method. The 2-dimensional, depth averaged flow domain is discretised into linear triangular 3-noded elements. A background mesh storing the bathymetric information of the domain is generated using a procedure based on the Delaunay Triangulation technique but with the nodes optimally positioned to take into account the contours of the bed. The moving boundary component is separate from the flow computation. They are coupled at the end of each time-step. Nodes on the land-water interface are moved according to the tidal level and bed slope. Elements and nodes are deleted or created along the boundary so as to ensure good quality triangular elements at all stages of the tide. To limit computational time in the moving boundary algorithm, only the affected areas are meshed. The frequency of movement is monitored so that an optimum balance between accurate presentation of the land-water boundary and fast computational needs is achieved. The presence of structures in the intertidal zone is also dealt with.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:639320
Date January 1995
CreatorsWahab, A. K.
PublisherSwansea University
Source SetsEthos UK
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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