Finite element modeling of flow and transport in coastal waters

Abstract

Long-wave propagation and scalar transport, two processes commonly simulated in coastal engineering, are reviewed from a modeling perspective. A general description of each is given, followed by a discussion on a particular numerical issue. We first examine the vertical grid resolution in three-dimensional shallow water models. We show that, for practical applications and current computational resources, converged solutions cannot be obtained for uniform grids. A methodology to optimize vertical nodal placement in shallow water models is proposed and validated. We then examine mass imbalances in Eulerian-Lagrangian solutions of the transport equation. The mechanisms for mass error generation are reviewed, and individual solutions are proposed